US08336109B2
A method and apparatus for processing a Rights Object (RO) are provided. A method for upgrading the RO includes: acquiring, by a Digital Rights Management (DRM) Agent, RO related information of the RO that requires updating from a Secure Removable Media (SRM) Agent; providing, by the DRM Agent, the RO related information to a Rights Issuer (RI), and obtaining a new RO from the RI; and interacting, by the DRM Agent, with the SRM Agent to upgrade the RO that requires updating on the SRM by means of the new RO. According to the embodiments of the present invention, the DRM Agent acquires RO related information which is stored on the SRM and does not have Move rights, and interacts with the RI to move the RO out from the SRM, so as to move the RO without the Move rights out from the SRM, thus extending an application of the RO without the Move rights.
US08336105B2
A method and devices for a control of usage of content is disclosed. In one embodiment, a user device performs the steps of obtaining the content, defining usage rights, generating integrity protection information for defined usage rights, encrypting the content with a content encryption key, encrypting the content encryption key with a key encryption key associated with a recipient device and/or an operator of the recipient device, communicating the encrypted content, the defined usage rights, the encrypted content encryption key, and the integrity protection information to the recipient device. The recipient device performs the steps of verifying the integrity of the defined usage rights based on the integrity protection information, decrypting the encrypted content encryption key with a decryption key corresponding to the key encryption key, decrypting the encrypted content with the content encryption key in a secure environment, applying the defined usage rights to the content in the secure environment, and using the content according to the applied usage rights.
US08336096B2
An access control apparatus including a memory section that stores information; an authentication information memory section that stores at least first stored user authentication information and second stored user authentication information corresponding to a user; an input section in which first inputted user authentication information and second inputted user authentication information are inputted; a judgment section that judges whether the first inputted user authentication information matches the first stored user authentication information; a registration section that stores a second inputted authentication information in the authentication information memory section, if the judgment sections judges that the first inputted authentication information matches the first stored user authentication information; and an approval section that approves access to the information stored in the memory section for a predetermined time period if the judgment section judges that: (1) the first inputted authentication information matches the first stored user authentication information, and (2) the second inputted authentication information matches the second stored authentication information.
US08336094B2
A method of implementing a firewall that receives a layer of policies from each of multiple entities with different levels of authority. The method evaluates received packets based on the received layers of policies. A layer of policies of a higher level of authority can accept a received packet, block the received packet, or delegate a decision of whether to accept or block the received packet to a layer of policies of a lower level of authority.
US08336091B2
Approaches for performing a multiple level authentication on an entity are provided. A primary authentication credential and a secondary authentication credential may be established for a user account. The primary authentication credential uniquely identifies a particular account of the software application. The secondary authentication credential uniquely identifies an entity, such as a user, application, or device, authorized to use the particular user account. Upon receiving a request to access the software application using the particular user account, a determination is made as to whether the request is accompanied by the primary authentication credentials and a secondary authentication credential associated with the particular user account. Upon determining that the request is accompanied by valid primary and secondary authentication credentials for the user account, limited access, based upon the secondary authentication credential, to the software application using the particular user account is granted.
US08336090B2
A method and system providing access to electronic content includes receiving a request to access the electronic content from a user device, accessing a unique ID of the user device, and comparing the unique ID to a list of authorized user devices. The unique ID is used to determine if the user device is an authorized user device. If the user device is authorized, access is provided to the electronic content. If the user device is not authorized, determining if a maximum number of authorized user devices is reached. The user device is converted to an authorized user device, if the maximum number is not reached. If the maximum number of authorized user devices is reached, the user can be denied access to the electronic content or the system can request de-authorization of one of the authorized user devices to convert the user device to an authorized user device.
US08336088B2
An alias management and value transfer claim processing system is disclosed. A sending entity initiates value transfer identifying a recipient entity using an alias that is unregistered with the system. The value transfer is authorized, but not settled until the recipient entity registers with the system and claims the value transfer. The registered alias can be used for subsequent value transfers.
US08336081B2
Disclosed is a trusted network connect system for enhancing the security, the system including an access requester of the system network that connects to a policy enforcement point in the manner of authentication protocol, and network-connects to the access authorizer via a network authorization transport protocol interface, an integrity evaluation interface and an integrity measurement interface, a policy enforcement point network-connects to the access authorizer via a policy enforcement interface, an access authorizer network-connects to the policy manager via a user authentication authorization interface, a platform evaluation authorization interface and the integrity measurement interface, and an access requester network-connects to a policy manager via the integrity measurement interface.
US08336080B2
Automatic Security Compliance Assessment (ASCA) systems and methods are provided for automatically generating and determining a security rating for a plurality of Settings Objects (SOs), where each of the SOs define particular configurations of subsystems of a wireless computing device. Each SO collectively defines a collection of Values specified for Configurable Attributes that can be used to define a different configuration for a particular subsystem associated with a particular Setting Class that is used to guide the creation of that particular SO. The server can store a group of security rating templates, each of which includes the information needed to determine an expected security rating for any SOs created per a particular Settings Class. For any combination of device settings, the resultant SOs can be used to generate an expected security rating. In addition, a security interaction template (SIT) and security test scripts can be generated that correspond to each particular group of SOs, and can be used to produce an Overall Device Security Rating (ODSR) for that particular group of SOs or a sub-set thereof.
US08336078B2
An actor is associated with a role, a policy type is associated with the role, and a role scope is associated with the role. One or more values are received for one or more corresponding context parameters associated with the actor. A request for access to a resource is received from the actor. A policy instance is determined based on the policy type and the one or more values for the one or more corresponding context parameters associated with the actor. One or more actor-role scope values are determined based on the role scope and the one or more values for the one or more corresponding context parameters associated with the actor. A response to the request is determined based on the policy instance and the actor-role scope values.
US08336075B2
A content distribution system includes a node to which content is distributed via a network and a distribution management server for managing a content distribution status.The node receives content, detects an information amount of received content, and, on the basis of the detected information amount, outputs a distribution completion notification indicative of a reception status of corresponding content.On the other hand, the distribution management server receives the distribution completion notification for each node, and stores the received distribution completion information for each node.
US08336067B2
Embodiments of the disclosed invention include a system and a method for bypassing an emergency alert break-in. An emergency alert break-in means any message, alert, and/or newscast that interrupts by preempting and/or modifying displaying of a regularly scheduled program to present information associated with an urgent and/or important event. For example, in one embodiment, a method is disclosed that includes receiving data from a media content provider; identifying from the data an emergency alert break-in; presenting a user interface that includes an option for bypassing the emergency alert break-in; and displaying a regularly scheduled program in response to receiving a request to bypass the emergency alert break-in.
US08336065B2
A disk cartridge that has high durability with respect to a drop impact is provided. The disk cartridge includes: a disk-like recording medium; a cartridge case that rotatably accommodates the disk-like recording medium and is formed with a first opening that exposes a part of the disk-like recording medium; an inner rotor that is rotatably supported inside the cartridge case and includes a main surface portion formed with a second opening corresponding to the first opening; shutter members that are movable between a closing position at which the first opening is closed and an opening position at which the first opening is opened in accordance with a rotation of the inner rotor; and a buffer mechanism that is formed on the main surface portion of the inner rotor and includes rotary shafts that rotatably support the shutter members and elastic support portions that respectively support the rotary shafts and can be elastically deformed with respect to the main surface portion.
US08336056B1
A multi-threaded system for data management and other computationally intensive applications. The invention takes advantage of multi-core processors to attain high performance. Multi-core processors provide high performance by executing programs in parallel. The amount of performance gained is strongly dependent on the software implementation. To take advantage of the multi-core architecture, applications should be multi-threaded. The invention provides a uniform, configurable, and a consistent multi-threaded software structure that increases performance by distribution of tasks and workload between threads and allocating threads to different processing units, so as to run programs in parallel. The uniform structure of the threads, the ease of configuring the software, and its modularity simplify execution of complex projects and expedite application development.
US08336054B2
A method comprises defining a scheduler parameter for a maximum allocation of capacity of a shared resource to a consumer for a scheduling interval. Utilization of an allocated capacity of the shared resource by the consumer during a given scheduling interval is measured, and when the allocated capacity of the shared resource is completely utilized by the consumer during the given scheduling interval, the scheduler increases the allocated capacity of the shared resource to the defined maximum allocation for the consumer for a next scheduling interval. Thus, rather than gradually increasing the allocation of capacity over many intervals, the scheduler immediately increases the allocation to a predefined maximum amount in response to an allocated amount of capacity being completely utilized during a scheduling interval.
US08336053B2
A method and transaction processing system for managing transaction processing tasks are provided. The transaction processing system comprises a transaction log, a log management policy, a log manager and a dispatcher. The method comprises maintaining a transaction log of recoverable changes made by transaction processing tasks and storing a log management policy including at least one log threshold. Usage of the log by transaction processing tasks is then monitored to determine when a log threshold is reached. When a log threshold is reached the active task having the oldest log entry of all active tasks is identified and its dispatching priority is increased. This increases the likelihood that the identified task will be dispatched, and should mean that the task will more quickly reach normal completion.
US08336049B2
An analytics engine receives real-time statistics from a set of virtual machines supporting a line of business (LOB) application. The statistics relate to computing resource utilization and are used by the analytics engine to generate a prediction of demand for the LOB application in order to dynamically control the provisioning of virtual machines to support the LOB application.
US08336039B2
An apparatus, method and article of manufacture tangibly embodying computer readable instructions for optimizing a Java object on a target computer program. The apparatus includes: a storage unit for storing a value of the object and management information on the object in association with each other; a code generation unit for generating, from the target computer program, optimized code and unoptimized code; a switching unit for switching from executing the target computer program using the optimized code to executing the target computer program using the unoptimized code in response to an event in which the value of the object is written while the target computer program is executed by using the optimized code; and a management unit for managing the object by accessing the management information by a non-detection write operation in which writing to the object is performed without being detected.
US08336035B2
Embodiments described herein are directed to allowing a user to extend the functionality of a software code interpretation system. In one embodiment, a computer system receives user-defined conversion rules from a user for converting dynamic language code to continuation-based abstract memory representations. The computer system identifies portions of software code that are to be converted from dynamic language abstract memory representations into continuation-based abstract memory representations, where the identified code portions include undefined, extensible input primitives. The computer system also generates a dynamic, extensible set of output primitives interpretable by a continuation-based code interpretation system using the received conversion rules and converts the identified code portions including the undefined, extensible input primitives from dynamic language abstract memory representations into continuation-based abstract memory representations using the generated set of output primitives.
US08336033B2
A system and method are provided to generate a hierarchical tree representing stack traces. In one embodiment, stack trace elements in a plurality of stack traces relating to profiling of an application executing at a first virtual machine are identified, the stack trace elements relating to profiling events being detected during the profiling of the application. The identified stack trace elements are sorted as one of parent elements; parent/child elements, or child elements based on a number of times a stack trace element has appeared in the plurality of stack traces and its relationship with other elements in the plurality of stack traces. A tree having nodes to represent the stack trace elements is created such that that the child elements branch from the parent/child elements or the parent elements, and the parent/child elements branch from the parent elements.
US08336012B2
A method for reducing a timing violation in a negative slack path from an integrated circuit design, by identifying the negative slack path in the integrated circuit design with a processor, and then identifying positive slack paths by determining timing slack for the paths that are disposed before and after the negative slack path. A prediction is made as to whether margin can be obtained from the positive slack paths by performing additional timing optimization on the positive slack paths, and it is determined whether that margin is sufficient to reduce the timing violation to at least a desired level. If the margin is sufficient, then additional timing optimization is performed on the positive slack paths, and the margin is used to manipulate the clock skew and reduce the timing violation on the negative slack path.
US08336007B1
A verifiable duplex multiplier circuit is provided. In one mode, the circuitry of the duplex multiplier functions as an N-bit×N-bit multiplier. In another mode, the circuitry of the duplex multiplier operates as dual N/2-bit×N/2-bit multipliers. Because the same circuitry can be used to serve as both an N×N multiplier and as dual N/2×N/2 multipliers, integrated circuit resources are conserved. The duplex multiplier circuitry uses an architecture that can be automatically synthesized using a logic synthesis tool. Verification operations can be performed using logic-equivalency error checking tools. Exhaustive verification is possible using this approach, even when relatively large duplex multipliers (e.g., duplex multipliers with N values of 16 or more) are used.
US08336006B2
According to one embodiment, a design layout highly likely to be a dangerous point in a lithography process is set, a coherence map kernel for generating the mask layout is set with respect to the set design layout, the coherence map is created based on the set coherence map kernel and the set design layout, the auxiliary pattern is extracted from the created coherence map and shaped to generate the mask layout, a cost function COST for evaluating an optimization degree of the mask layout is defined, the generated mask layout is evaluated using the cost function, and at least one of parameters of the coherence map kernel and parameters in extracting and shaping the auxiliary pattern from the coherence map are changed until the mask layout evaluated using the cost function is optimized.
US08335992B2
This disclosure describes improved systems and methods for visualizing the application of changes to respiratory settings in a ventilatory system. Specifically, the present disclosure provides for a setup animation window that may be easily accessed from a setup icon, for example, and also provides for a settings animation window that may be easily accessed from any number of displayed ventilatory settings. In fact, the setup animation window may be directly accessed by touching, clicking, or otherwise selecting the setup icon and may expand from the setup icon to display any number of settings access elements. Alternatively, the settings animation window may be directly accessed by touching, clicking, or otherwise selecting any one of the displayed ventilatory settings and may expand from the displayed ventilatory settings to provide corresponding settings access elements. The corresponding settings access elements each corresponding to an individual ventilatory setting of the displayed ventilatory settings and useful for efficiently adjusting the displayed ventilatory settings. Ventilatory settings may be changed and accepted via either animation window. In one embodiment, upon accepting settings changes from the settings animation window, settings may appear to visually float or fade into the displayed ventilatory settings. In this embodiment, clinicians may view the settings changes as they are accepted and applied to the GUI.
US08335989B2
An approach is provided for presenting polymorphic notes in a graphical user interface. A polymorphic note manager receives a request to display a plurality of polymorphic notes on a graphical user interface of a device. In response to the request, the polymorphic note manager determines an order of the plurality of polymorphic notes according to either an associated date or, if there is no associated date, a creation date corresponding to each of the plurality of polymorphic notes. The polymorphic note manager then causes, at least in part, actions that result in display of the plurality of polymorphic notes in the graphical user interface according to the determined order.
US08335980B2
A device for managing electronic bookmarks. The device includes an element implementing a main function of managing electronic bookmarks, activated at start-up and at determined instants, except when the device switches to a stand-by mode. The element implementing the main function includes: a transmitter, allowing transmission to a server a request to obtain a preconfigured list of bookmarks, wherein the request includes a log-in of the device; a receiver, allowing the preconfigured list transmitted by the server in response to the request to be received; a display, allowing the preconfigured list to be displayed; and an element allowing a user to use the bookmarks of the preconfigured list displayed. The device does not include an element that helps in initial construction of the preconfigured list on the server nor an element that helps to add to the preconfigured list at least one additional bookmark not previously proposed by the server.
US08335975B2
A digital broadcasting system for transmitting/receiving a digital broadcasting signal and a data processing method are disclosed. First program table information and second program table information, which has an identifier different from an identifier of the first program information, are multiplexed and transmitted. The first program table information describes main service data through fixed reception channel, while the second program information described mobile service data through mobile reception channel. Thus, a broadcast receiving system can receive and output the mobile service data by parsing the second program table information.
US08335964B2
A data processing apparatus, a data processing method, an encoding apparatus, and an encoding method which can be applied, for example, to a transmission system for transmitting an LDPC code and so forth, and which can improve tolerance to errors. Of an LDPC code which is prescribed in the DVB-S.2 and has a code length of 64,800 and an encoding rate of 2/3, mb code bits are replaced, and the code bits after the replacement become symbol bits of b symbols. When m is 8 and b is 2, where the i+1th bit from the most significant bit of 8×2 code bits and 8×2 symbol bits of two successive symbols are represented by bi and yi, respectively, replacement of allocating b0 to y15, b1 to y7, b2 to y1, b3 to y5, b4 to y6, b5 to y13, b6 to y11, b7 to y9, b8 to y8, b9 to y14, b10 to y12, b11 to y3, b12 to y0, b13 to y10, b14 to y4 and b15 to y2.
US08335963B2
The present invention relates to a method for constructing LPDC code check matrix and encoding and decoding devices using the same. The present invention constructs the LDPC code check matrix using an algebraic structure, obtaining the LDPC code with stable performance.
US08335961B2
A system that provides error detection and correction for a memory that has a specific failed memory component accesses a block of data from the memory. Each block of data includes an array of bits logically organized into rows and columns, including a column including row-checkbits, a column including inner checkbits and data bits, and columns containing data bits. Each column is stored in a different memory component and the checkbits are generated from the data bits. Next, the system attempts to correct a column of the block by using the checkbits and the data bits to produce a corrected column. The system then regenerates row-parity bits and the inner checkbits for the block of data, wherein the block includes the corrected column, and compares the regenerated row-parity bits and inner checkbits with existing row-parity bits and inner checkbits. If the comparison indicates that there remains a double-bit error with both erroneous bits in the same row and one in the column associated with the failed component, the system flips the erroneous bits to correct the double-bit error.
US08335951B2
A method for verifying memory device integrity includes identifying at least one memory block corresponding to at least one memory location within a memory device. The memory block is associated with a prior checksum. It is determined whether the first memory block is designated read-only. A current checksum is calculated based at least in part on data within the memory block. When the first memory block is designated read-only, and the prior checksum represents expected data within the first memory block, it is determined whether the current checksum is equal to the prior checksum. When the current checksum is not equal to the prior checksum, a verification failure for the first memory block is indicated via a notification interface. A system for verifying memory device integrity is also disclosed.
US08335944B2
The present invention relates to an automatic testing apparatus, which comprises a device under test and a testing module. The device under test has a testing program and includes a plurality of functional modules. The testing module is coupled to the device under test. The device under test executes a testing program and communicates with the testing module so that the testing module can test the plurality of functional modules of the device under test. By adopting automatic testing, no tester is needed for performing testing. Thereby, the personnel cost can be reduced and the total testing time can be shortened.
US08335938B2
A method and electronic device for activating components based on predicted device activity. The method and device include maintaining a set of device activity information storing data collected from components in the device. The device activity information may be maintained over a predetermined time period and may include times associated with the collected component data. The device activity information may include data regarding scheduled events. Device activity and the appropriate activation state of a component on the device may be predicted based on the current time, current data collected from components in the device and data in the device activity information.
US08335933B2
A secure storage system secures information of a client by first encrypting the information with a first key to generate first-key encrypted data. The secure storage system then encrypts with a second key the first-key encrypted data and the first key to generate second-key encrypted data. The system provides the client with a first portion of the second-key encrypted data. The system stores a second portion of the second-key encrypted data and the second key. When the confidential information is needed, the client provides the first portion. The system retrieves the second portion. The system then decrypts with the second key the first portion and the second portion to generate the first-key encrypted data and the first key. The system then decrypts with the first key the first-key encrypted data to generate the unsecure confidential information.
US08335931B2
Disclosed are interconnectable personal computer architectures comprising secure, portable and persistent computing environments that provide secure computing sessions with persistence. The computing environments are implemented using a secure non-computing client device, such as a USB device, that interfaces with a host computer and, optionally, a trusted server. The secure non-computing client device is used to instantiate a secure BIOS and a secure cold or warm boot of the host computer, from the client device, in a host protected area of the host computer, or from the trusted server. The client device comprises a security device, such a trusted platform module, that encrypts and decrypts data transferred between the client apparatus and the host computer to provide a sealed computing environment on the host computer. The client device may implement keyboard logger attack prevention. The client device may also implement a high assurance guard to protect applications. The client device may also comprise security wrapper software that encapsulates malware processed by the host computer. Computing methods and software are also disclosed.
US08335928B2
An information providing system and method and a storage medium which provide information services to each client apparatus on which a browser for browsing content and at least one object operate, through the cooperation with the operation of the object. A server apparatus has a view server for providing content to the browser, a communication server for making communication with the object, and an application sever for making the view server and the application server cooperate with each other. When a read operation from the object is performed, the communication server notifies the application server of a result of the read operation, thereby providing synchronization between the communication server and the view server.
US08335927B2
An authentication method for use in an apparatus having a function, a function to execute a first program that executes a predetermined process after first user authentication with biometrics authentication is performed and does not have a network connection function, and a function to execute a second program that is invoked after the first program is executed, executed after second user authentication and has a network connection function comprises executing the first program in forgery detection mode regardless of a result of a user determination if biometrics authentication with forgery is detected at the time of the first user authentication, invoking the second program in the forgery detection mode after the first program is executed in the forgery detection mode, and notifying a device connected to an external network of forgery detection information by using the network connection function after the second program is invoked in the forgery detection mode.
US08335923B2
In a method for compatibility checking of a measuring system including a measurement transmitter and a sensor, a first signature is externally created for an identifying data set and is stored in the measurement transmitter. After transmission of the identifying data set from the measurement transmitter to the sensor, a second signature is calculated for the identifying data set in the sensor. If the signatures match, then the measurement transmitter and the sensor are compatible and the measurement transmitter can access data and/or functions of the sensor.
US08335919B2
Secure bulk messaging mechanism in which, roughly described, a sender first encrypts a message once. The message can be decrypted with a message decryption key. These can be symmetric or asymmetric keys. For each recipient, the sender then encrypts the message decryption key with the recipient's public key. The sender then sends the encrypted message and the encrypted message decryption keys to a store-and-forward server. Subsequently, one or more recipients connect to the server and retrieve the encrypted message and the message encryption key that has been encrypted with the recipient's public key. Alternatively, the server can forward these items to each individual recipient. The recipient then decrypts the encrypted message decryption key with the recipient's private key, resulting in an un-encrypted message decryption key. The recipient then decrypts the message using the un-encrypted message decryption key.
US08335916B2
The present invention discloses a system, method, apparatus, and computer usable product code for handling requests. The invention can include a kernel level cache, a request handling service, and a transport layer security service. The kernel level cache can store request handling data. The request handling service can handle secure requests at a transport layer of a kernel when request handling data is present in the kernel level cache. The transport layer security service can handle encryption/decryption operations for the secure requests and request responses at the transport layer.
US08335911B2
Systems and methods for efficient dynamic utilization of shared resources in a processor. A processor comprises a front end pipeline, an execution pipeline, and a commit pipeline, wherein each pipeline comprises a shared resource with entries configured to be allocated for use in each clock cycle by each of a plurality of threads supported by the processor. To avoid starvation of any active thread, the processor further comprises circuitry configured to ensure each active thread is able to allocate at least a predetermined quota of entries of each shared resource. Each pipe stage of a total pipeline for the processor may include at least one dynamically allocated shared resource configured not to starve any active thread. Dynamic allocation of shared resources between a plurality of threads may yield higher performance over static allocation. In addition, dynamic allocation may require relatively little overhead for activation/deactivation of threads.
US08335905B2
A computing system includes; a memory having first and second storage areas, and a processor sending a memory control signal to the memory to define a data access period during which data is accessed, and a read source control signal indicating whether the first storage area or the second storage area is to be accessed during the data access period. The memory activates a wait signal in response to the memory access signal and the read source control signal, and the processor is further configured to adjust the duration of the data access period in response to the wait signal.
US08335898B2
A method of operating a data control system to copy a volume of data from a primary storage system to a secondary storage system comprises receiving an instruction to copy the volume of data, wherein the volume of data comprises a plurality of data blocks, in response to the instruction, determining if at least a data block of the plurality of data blocks requires copying to the secondary storage system, if the data block requires copying to the secondary storage system, then reading the data block from memory in the primary storage system and transferring the data block for writing to memory in the secondary storage system, and if the data block does not require copying, then transferring a synthetic block for writing to the memory in the secondary storage system.
US08335896B1
A method and system for performing memory optimization is described. In one embodiment, the method comprises receiving from a processor a plurality of read/write requests, wherein at least a portion of the read/write requests are related. Arrival times of the read/write requests that are related are measured and predicted arrival times are determined of future read/write requests that are related. The method creates a real-time schedule of memory requests using the arrival times of the read/write requests and the predicted arrival times of the future read/write requests. The real-time schedule is then used to pre-determine time periods. The method performs opportunistic functions in the memory during the pre-determined time periods, including performing at least one of garbage collection or translation cache pre-fetch.
US08335886B2
Wear leveling method for non-volatile memory device having single and multi level memory cell blocks
A method of executing a wear leveling operation within a non-volatile memory including a single-level memory cell block (SLC) and a multi-level memory cell block (MLC) is disclosed. The method includes calculating an average erase point in relation to a number of programming/erase (P/E) operations applied to a logical block address (LBA), a SLC mode usage point in relation to a number of the P/E operations applied to the SLC, a MLC mode usage point in relation to a number of the P/E operations applied to the MLC, and a wear value in relation to the average erase point, the SLC mode usage point, and the MLC mode usage point; and then if the wear value exceeds a defined threshold value, performing the wear leveling operation.
US08335881B2
A method for handling an interrupt during testing of at least one logic block of a processor includes performing a test on at least one logic block of a processor; during the performing, receiving an interrupt; determining a progress status of the test in response to receiving the interrupt; and determining when the processor responds to an interrupt, wherein the determining when the processor responds to an interrupt is based on the progress of the test.
US08335875B1
A controller for a host system includes an interface and a buffer. The interface receives a plurality of data units isochronously received from a connected device, and the buffer stores the data units and then output a data block upon the occurrence of at least one condition. Each data unit stores data of a first size and the data block includes data of a second size greater than the first size. The connected device may be a Universal Serial Bus (USB) device or another type of device.
US08335873B2
Methods and systems for transmitting data are presented. Data received from at least one data source is retained in at least one buffer. In one example, initial hierarchical data may be provided from the at least one buffer to a device, followed by additional hierarchical data. In one example, the data is received into the at least one buffer via a multicast connection, and the data is provided to the device via a point-to-point connection.
US08335872B2
Methods and systems for advancing to another service from a plurality of services in a digital radio broadcast receiver are described. The methods and systems include the steps of receiving an instruction to advance to another service from a man-machine interface of the digital radio broadcast receiver, selecting an entry from a set of entries stored in a memory of the digital radio broadcast receiver responsive to the instruction, wherein each entry identifies a service, and wherein at least some of said services correspond to services identified as receivable, tuning to a first service identified by the selected entry, rendering content received on the first service at the digital radio broadcast receiver, and updating the set of entries stored in the memory of the digital radio broadcast receiver based on at least one criteria.
US08335867B1
Method and apparatus for reducing host processor activity during interaction with peripheral devices
A system including a processing core configured to generate a request signal to transfer data between a host device and a peripheral device. The processing core is in a low power state subsequent to generating the request signal. An interface module, separate from the processing core, is configured to transmit a sequence of commands from the host device to the peripheral device based on the request signal. The sequence of commands is transmitted to initiate the transfer of the data between the host device and the peripheral device. A comparator configured to compare expected responses of the peripheral device to the sequence of commands against responses received from the peripheral device to control the transfer of the data between the host device and the peripheral device without waking up the processing core from the low power state.
US08335866B2
In some embodiments a Universal Serial Bus cable includes a first differential pair to transmit bus signals, and a second differential pair to transmit bus signals in a same direction as the bus signals transmitted by the first differential pair. In this manner, a bandwidth of the Universal Serial Bus cable is doubled in that same direction. Other embodiments are described and claimed.
US08335864B2
Systems and corresponding methods include a system having an operating system based wholly around a protocol stack, such as a Transmission Control Protocol/Internet Protocol (TCP/IP) stack. The system may include a central processing unit (CPU) including the operating system embedded therein, and a network interface coupled with a network and the CPU. The network may be the Internet. The operating system is fundamentally a state machine. The kernel of the operating system is fundamentally just a protocol stack for communicating with one or more devices of the network via the network interface. The protocol stack may be a TCP/IP protocol stack, UDP/IP stack or combinations thereof. A chip may be provided that includes the TCP/IP stack state machine-based operating system embedded in a CPU. The resultant chip may be ultra low power, miniscule in size, and IP-centric.
US08335861B2
A method and system for processing correction field information are provided. The method includes: receiving a packet, and obtaining a first correction value carried by the packet; obtaining first time information and second time information; obtaining a second correction value according to the first correction value and the first time information; setting the second correction value in the packet; setting the second time information in the packet; obtaining third time information and fourth time information; obtaining a third correction value according to the second correction value, the second time information, the third time information, and the fourth time information; and setting the third correction value in the packet. The processing of the time information and the processing of the correction field information are performed with a set of processing mechanism, and the implementation is simpler.
US08335860B2
There is disclosed a method and apparatus for filtering information provided from an application server to an application client, comprising applying filtering rules at an intermediary element in a communication path between said application server and said application client.
US08335859B2
An apparatus, system, and method are disclosed for distributing data requests between data centers. A request module receives a data operation request from a client. The data operation request corresponds to mirrored data stored at a plurality of data centers. A metadata module maintains a set of data center cooling efficiency factors for each of the plurality of data centers. Each data center cooling efficiency factor comprises data relating to operational costs of a data center. A cost reduction module compares sets of data center cooling efficiency factors for each of the plurality of data centers to select the most efficient data center from the plurality of data centers. A response module sends the data operation request to the selected data center.
US08335853B2
Methods and apparatuses, including computer program products, are described for transparent recovery of transport connections. The method includes collecting a state associated with a first connection between a first server and a remote server via a first network socket and transmitting the state from a first networking module to a second networking module. The method includes storing the state, opening a second network socket based on failure of the first networking module, intercepting outbound packets associated with a request to initiate a second connection between the first server and the remote server via the second socket, modifying the intercepted packets based on the state, and transmitting the modified packets to the remote server to elicit an acknowledgement to maintain the first connection. The method includes receiving packets associated with the acknowledgment from the remote server, and modifying the received packets to acknowledge the request to initiate the second connection.
US08335840B2
An internal unit acquires a first internal use address and uses the first internal use address to acquire a second internal use address. When receiving a notification of change of IP address from the main unit, the internal unit uses the second internal use address as a first internal use address to acquire a new second internal use address from the main unit.
US08335838B2
Web page load time prediction is achieved by simulating and adjusting the load times of web objects in a webpage to determined adjustments that optimize an overall page load time (PLT) of the webpage. The webpage load time prediction includes extracting a parental dependency graph (PDG) for the webpage. The PDG encapsulates one or more dependency relationships for each web object in the webpage. The prediction further includes determining an original PLT and original timing information of a webpage. The prediction also includes simulating a page loading of the webpage based on adjusted timing information of each web object and the PDG to estimate a new PLT of the webpage. The prediction additionally includes comparing the original PLT of the webpage to the new PLT of the webpage to determine whether the adjusted timing information increased or decreased the new PLT of the webpage.
US08335826B2
A network system is disclosed. The system includes: a terminal device; a network appliance to be controlled by the terminal device; a service server that provides a service for controlling the network appliance over a network to the terminal device; and an access management server that receives/transmits information for accessing the network appliance over the network. The network appliance has a message transmitting section, and the access management server has: a storage section and an event message transmission control section.
US08335820B1
Described are techniques for preserving connections. First code is executed on a server. The server communicates with a client over one or more connections and the first code uses one or more control structures describing a state of the one or more connections. An operation is performed on the server. First processing is performed in response to the operation. The first processing includes loading second code for execution on the server. The second code replaces the first code and uses the one or more control structures previously used by the first code.
US08335809B2
A derivation procedure for a three-dimensional digital mask from a series of two-dimensional masks in a radiographic device containing a source (S) of X-rays, a means of recording and a volume of interest hat contains the object to be X-rayed located between the source (S) and the means of recording consists of an extrapolation of each mask Mθ2 includes determining a last segment 1fin beyond the limits of the means of recording; and working out a two-dimensional mask Mγ associated with a position Sγ of the source, for any angle γ included in the angular range θ2 to θ1 (a position close to θ2). For every parallel segment 1 located between segment d (or d′ respectively) and segment 1fin, the procedure further includes deriving a three-dimensional mask (21) of the object for each voxel at the intersection of plane P1θ2 and the volume of interest; and projecting the three-dimensional mask onto the segment 1.
US08335808B2
The invention is a method of calculating a key equation polynomial. The key equation comprises an errata locator polynomial and an errata evaluator polynomial. The errata locator polynomial decomposes to a plurality of coefficients. Some or all of the plurality of coefficients are formed by adding up decomposed data. The method comprises a coefficient calculation procedure for the errata locator polynomial of updating at least two coefficients, or two decomposed data of the coefficient calculation procedure, or a combination of the above in a single clock cycle simultaneously to get the errata locator polynomial.
US08335804B2
An approach is provided that receives an alteration request to mark a selected column in a database table as an unused column. A database control table is then updated to indicate that the selected column is unused. After the database control table is updated, when a read request is received for the selected column, the same data is returned for the selected column for each row being read and this data is not stored in the database table.
US08335801B2
In a method and system for matching content between content sources, a first set of metadata describing a first content item is compared to a second set of metadata describing a second content item. Based on the comparing, an accuracy score is generated. The accuracy score indicates an amount of similarity between the first set of metadata and the second set of metadata. The accuracy score is compared to a predetermined accuracy threshold value. Based on the accuracy score being greater than or equal to the predetermined accuracy threshold value, a determination is made that the first content item and the second content item are a match. Based on the accuracy score being less than the predetermined accuracy threshold value, a determination is made that the first content item and the second content item are not a match.
US08335796B2
A recipe providing system and a recipe providing method for presenting a suitable recipe that matches to a user request on specific foodstuff basis and/or specific cooking process basis. A recipe element storing unit stores a recipe element data related to recipes. The recipe elements are hierarchized according to cooking process of one recipe and each of the recipe element has link information to a finished-dish for which the recipe element is used. A recipe generating means retrieves/extracts recipe element data from the recipe element storing unit in accordance with user's recipe request, and generates a recipe. A recipe sending means sends the recipe generated by the recipe generating means to users.
US08335790B2
The invention relates to a device (1) for transmitting to a user system (3) geographical data that is stored, using a unit-surface sorting, in the database (4) of a provider system (2).
US08335789B2
A Mixed Media Reality (MMR) system and associated techniques are disclosed. The MMR system provides mechanisms for forming a mixed media document that includes media of at least two types (e.g., printed paper as a first medium and digital content and/or web link as a second medium). In one particular embodiment, the MMR system provides for document fingerprint matching.
US08335778B2
Embodiments of the present invention provide techniques for searching enterprise data using semantic information associated with enterprise applications. One or more searchable data definitions that describe searchable data associated with one or more enterprise applications may identify semantic relationships among searchable data in the application. An ontology for the application that describes semantic relationships among data associated with the application may be generated from the searchable data definitions. The ontology may be used to execute search queries and provide search results that include or result from semantic relationships among the searched data.
US08335773B2
A system, method and computer program product is presented for versioning a business process model. The business process model is decomposed into a number of artifacts. A hierarchical dependency graph is generated for the number of artifacts to produce, for each artifact, a set of referencing artifacts and a set of referenced artifacts. The set of referenced artifacts are compiled by creating a runtime format and computing a unique version identifier for each referenced artifacts, and the unique version identifier for each referenced artifact is incorporated into a version identifier of each associated referencing artifact from the set of referencing artifacts. At least one of the referenced artifacts is modified to produce a new version of the associated referencing artifact.
US08335771B1
Methods and apparatus for a continuous data protection system having a protection agent and at least one data protection appliance that enables, in an image access mode, a rolling back of volumes in a highly available storage array on the target side so that the volumes contain data for a selected point in time, creation of a storage array snapshot of the volumes for the point in time, and user access to the storage array snapshot in the storage array.
US08335762B2
Clients may subscribe to resources for the purpose of receiving notifications of changes in the resource (e.g., a file is added to a shared folder). Storing subscriptions within persistent storage provides data security in the event of a service failure, at the cost of high latency in accessing subscription data. An efficient method for tracking a resource is provided herein. A subscription service creates subscriptions and monitors resources for a client. Upon a subscribed resource change, a notification service stores a notification of the change into a queue associated with the client. Efficient resource tracking is achieved because notification and subscription data is stored in low latency soft memory. The notification service is configured to detect a failure in the notification service and/or subscription service. In the event a service fails, the client provides a recovery mechanism by resubscribing to resources the client is interested in.
US08335755B1
A reasoning system includes at least one atomic context and a plurality of derivation methods. Each atomic context encapsulates a reference to at least one mathematical model and is configured to cause the performance of at least one computation using the encapsulated mathematical model. Each of the derivation methods is configured to receive a reference to a base context and to create a derived context that is based on the base context. Such created derived contexts are configured to cause the performance of a computation by invoking the base context and providing at least one input to the base context, to receive an output from the base context, to perform a transformation on an input to the base context or on an output from the base context, and to return at least one output of the computation. Derived contexts can be composed in order to create more complex contexts.
US08335751B1
A system for intelligent goal-directed search in large volume visual imagery using a cognitive-neural subsystem is disclosed. The system comprises an imager, a display, a display processor, a cognitive-neural subsystem, a system controller, and operator controls. The cognitive-neural subsystem comprises a cognitive module, a neural module, and an adaptation module. The cognitive module is configured to extract a set of regions of interest from the image using a cognitive algorithm. The neural module is configured to refine the set of regions of interest using a neural processing algorithm. The adaptation module is configured to bias the cognitive algorithm with information gained from the neural module to improve future searches. The system functions in a plurality of operating modes, including: batch mode, semi-interactive mode, real-time mode, and roaming mode.
US08335750B1
Pattern recognition based on associative pattern memory (APM) and properties of cycles generated by finite cellular automata. APM addresses (e.g., positions in a two dimensional array) represent states. Cycles are repeating sequences of addresses. Each state is mapped to a “randomly” selected region within the input pattern. Each feature extracted from this region determines one of many next states. All next states (one for each feature type) and all sampled regions are assigned to each state randomly upon APM initialization. The process progresses from state to state, sampling regions of the pattern until the state-transition sequence repeats (generates a cycle). Each feature pattern is represented by one cycle, however different cycles can be derived from one pattern depending on the initial state. Some embodiments use a refractory period assuring a minimum cycle length, making it likely that any given pattern yields only one cycle independent of the initial state.
US08335746B2
A method and system for automated bargaining is disclosed. The method and system are used in testing non-equal values in normal rounds for satisfaction of a condition. If the condition is not satisfied in the normal rounds, power round values are tested for satisfaction of a power round condition. If the power round condition is satisfied, a binding bargained payment is calculated. Additional options involve an automated facilitator, windfalls to initiators, automatic payment initiation, multiparty aggregation and automatic agreement document generation.
US08335741B2
A system and method is provided to allow a consumer to interactively explore his credit score by submitting hypothetical values based on his actual credit data. The system uses the consumer's real credit data and the submitted hypothetical values to calculate a simulated credit score based on a simulator scorecard. The consumer may then observe the changes in the resultant scores. The system and the scorecard may utilize fewer data elements than a complete credit-worthiness scorecard and may instead focus on the key elements affecting a consumer's credit score. The system may be implemented in part on a web server or as a stand-alone application. The system may also update the score dynamically as the consumer adjusts the hypothetical values or may require the consumer to affirmatively submit the new hypothetical data.
US08335740B2
A method, system, and computer-readable medium for managing and collecting receivables are disclosed. Such a method includes providing at least one pre-existing account with first account information, the first account information having first account party data and providing at least one new account, each new account comprising new account information, the new account information having new account party data. The method also includes determining whether the first account party data of the pre-existing account matches the new account party data of the at least one new account and if so, tying the at least one new account with the matching pre-existing account to create a tied account. The method further includes calculating a score for any unmatched new account and any tied account based on at least one financial parameter and applying one or more collection strategies.
US08335739B1
A system and method for providing credit to a customer based on preliminary use of an account indicating that the customer is a good credit risk by providing to a customer an offer for a preliminary account associated with an action, facilitating a loan transaction between the customer and another party, receiving value from another party to initially fund the customer's preliminary account, providing the preliminary account to the customer, monitoring the preliminary account for the at least one predetermined action, repaying the another party the value received to initially fund the customer's preliminary account, and providing a credit account to the customer based on performance of the action.
US08335737B2
Price improvement in credit screened trading systems is achieved by entering a maximum price improvement (MPI) amount with a maker quote. The system prepares separate quote queues for each trading floor including only quotes where bilateral credit exists. Quotes are arranged using Price, MPI, time priority. When a quote is dealt, a dealable price improvement is calculated as the amount of the MPI required to improve the dealt quote's position in the queue.
US08335722B2
Estimating product inventory comprises determining a rate of sales events for a product and an amount of time that has elapsed since a previous product availability estimate fro the product. Then, a new product availability estimate for the product is determined based on the rate sales events for the product. The rate of sales events for the product can be determined based on product data feeds from the merchant or other sales data.
US08335721B2
A reservation system receives placement inventory data from publishers that define placements that the publishers are offering for reservation. Placement queries that include targeting criteria for advertisements are received from an advertiser. Available placements that satisfy the target query from the placements defined in the placement inventory data are identified as target placements. The advertiser can reserve the placements from the publisher, and modify the reservation during a reservation period. Advertisements belonging to a campaign of the advertiser can be provided to the publisher either by the advertiser directly in response to publisher requests to serve an advertisement for the reservation, or can be provided to the publisher by the reservation system or an advertising server in communication with the reservation system. Discrepancies of reported performance of advertisements in the placements reported by the advertisers and the publishers can be reconciled and attributed to either the advertiser or the publisher.
US08335718B2
Content item presentation slots (e.g., advertisement slots) can be grouped into a slot group so that more than one presenter (e.g., advertiser) can share a corresponding number of slots on the publisher's property over a defined time period. The presenters can be scheduled to the slots within the slot group to maximize a performance measurement (e.g., number of clicks) that each presenter realizes according to budget constraints that are defined by the presenters.
US08335717B2
Methods for gaining profit of a sponsored keyword auctioneer are described herein. The method begins with holding a local keyword auction, and receiving bids for it, wherein each bid is for the right to display one advertisement associated with the bid in response to the bid being allocated along with one keyword. Bid for the same keyword at other auctions are placed. Once the bidders of the local keyword auction to adjust bids, the bid at the external auction is changed by utilizing a forward looking Nash equilibrium response function.
US08335707B2
A system and method of developing sales information for use in a buyer-seller environment is directed to providing one or more qualifiers which relate to a sales offering; determining value criteria, for each qualifier, to identify potential value of the sales offering; determining ideal buying criteria based on a competitive analysis; and developing the sales information from the value and buying criteria. The sales information, which can be a letter of understanding (LOU) or a buyer needs assessment, can be stored on a server and updated and accessed by one or more sellers. The updating can be an iterative process that is responsive to feedback about the sales information.
US08335696B2
There is provided a method for producing a price competitive health care system. A website, which is hosted on a computer server, is created for establishing a health care network. Providers are solicited to join the health care network and a plurality of providers apply by sending applications, including credentials, to the website from the providers' computers via the internet. The credentials of the providers are examined. Those with appropriate credentials are approved. The approved providers send to the website a number equal to the percentage of a known index which the approved providers are willing to charge for their goods and/or services. The website is accessed by patients who may be interested in purchasing the services or the goods of one or more of the approved providers, which access is accomplished from the patients' computers via the internet.
US08335690B1
Grammars for interactive voice response systems using natural language understanding can be created using information which is available on websites. These grammars can be created in automated manners and can have various tuning measures applied to obtain optimal results when deployed in a customer contact environment. These grammars can allow a variety of statements to be appropriately handled by the system.
US08335686B2
A method for speech switching, including: extracting mute flags from encoded speech data transmitted by each of the terminals respectively in order to determine one or more non-mute terminals; decoding the encoded speech data of each non-mute terminal respectively; calculating speech energy of each non-mute terminal according to the decoded speech data of each non-mute terminal; comparing the speech energy of the non-mute terminals and selecting one or more terminals with relatively large speech energy; performing linear superposition with different combination methods to the decoded speech data of the selected terminals, and encoding the decoded speech data which is obtained from the linear superposition of the different combination methods, and transmitting the data to the corresponding terminals respectively. An apparatus for speech switching is also disclosed. With this invention, resource consumption during procedure of speech switching may be reduced, the effect of speech communication may be improved.
US08335684B2
A system and method for encoding and decoding speech signals that includes a specially-designed Code Excited Linear Prediction (CELP) encoder and a vector quantization (VQ) based Noise Feedback Coding (NFC) decoder or that includes a specially-designed VQ-based NFC encoder and a CELP decoder. The VQ based NFC decoder may be a VQ based two-stage NFC (TSNFC) decoder. The specially-designed VQ-based NFC encoder may be a specially-designed VQ based TSNFC encoder. In each system, the encoder receives an input speech signal and encodes it to generate an encoded bit stream. The decoder receives the encoded bit stream and decodes it to generate an output speech signal. A system and method is also described in which a single decoder receives and decodes both CELP-encoded audio signals as well as VQ-based NFC-encoded audio signals.
US08335681B2
A machine-translation apparatus using multi-level verbal-phrase patterns includes: a simple sentence generation unit for generating an input simple sentence; a basic verbal-phrase pattern-matching unit for trying a match of a semantic code of each case component of the input simple sentence with basic verbal-phrase patterns; a default verbal-phrase pattern matching unit for trying a match of a size and case prepositions of the input simple sentence with default verbal-phrase patterns having a verb identical to that of the input simple sentence; a default word-order matching unit for trying a match of a word-order of the input simple sentence with default word-order verbal-phrase patterns having a case component structure identical to that of the input simple sentence; and a default preposition matching unit for generating a target sentence of an input sentence with default preposition patterns having a context identical to that of the input simple sentence.
US08335675B1
A method, system, and computer-readable storage medium are disclosed for simulating paint behavior. In one embodiment, input representing a deposition of a first type of paint and a second type of paint on a canvas may be received. The first type of paint has a first set of fluid properties, and the second type of paint has a second set of fluid properties differing from the first set. In one embodiment, a motion of the first type of paint and the second type of paint on the canvas may be simulated dependent on the respective sets of fluid properties. The simulated motion of the second type of paint differs from the simulated motion of the first type of paint. An effect of the deposition of the paint may be determined dependent on the simulation. An image representing the effect of the deposition of the paint may be displayed.
US08335670B2
A system for determining the calibration factor uncertainty of a radiation sensor. A computing device accepts a mathematical model of the sensor, sample, and other items affecting the calibration factor, wherein each known mathematical model parameter is assigned its normal dimensions or values and each not-well-known parameter is assigned a variable with an upper and lower limit, and a shape parameter that describes the parameter may vary within or about the limits. Random values consistent with the upper and lower limits and shape parameters for each of the variable parameters in the model are then selected, to create a mathematical model of one possible variation of source-detector measurement configuration. The selection and calibration factor computation are then repeated a large number of times and statistical parameters describing the calibration factor and uncertainty are then computed. Another embodiment performs the steps at different energies for spectroscopic detectors.
US08335667B2
The present invention relates to a method for designing a system. This method includes obtaining a visual representation of one or more components of the ventilation system. One or more property values are assigned to each of the components of the system, which may be achieved using first program code. Geometrical information representing the visual representation and the property values of each component are exported to a data file using the first program code. Standards information relating to the property values are stored. The data file is then imported into a second software application and the data tile and the standards information is used to generate a final design using the second software application.
US08335660B2
A method and system for determining whether the number of samples taken from a population of units where the distribution of X and Y variables are unknown by evaluating ratio mean measurements on a computer to determine a confidence interval. The method comprising: inputting samples from the total population with each unit sample having at least two variables X and Y; redefining the multivariate data that comprises the two variables X and Y; estimating the mean; computing the standard error; using a bootstrapping method, generating boot strap samples, computing a Z distribution based upon the bootstrap samples; and computing the confidence interval. The system comprises a processor for performing the steps of the method.
US08335650B2
Example methods and apparatus to determine phase-change pressures are disclosed. A disclosed example method includes capturing a fluid in a chamber, pressurizing the fluid at a plurality of pressures, measuring a plurality of transmittances of a signal through the fluid at respective ones of the plurality of pressures, computing a first magnitude of a first subset of the plurality of transmittances, computing a second magnitude of a second subset of the plurality of transmittances, comparing the first and second magnitudes to determine a phase-change pressure for the fluid.
US08335645B2
Navigation-related information such as a road name or guidance is allowed to be dynamically displayed along a road on a map displayed on the display screen and the road displayed on the display screen, its road name, and the moving direction are also allowed to be made easy visual identification. A map display system for displaying the road name or the navigation-related information together with the road on a display means according to map data including data on the road and data on the road name comprises a display area determining means, a display direction determining means for determining the direction in which the display of a text displayed on a road image moves, a road-name extracting means, and a text data display control means. The road-name extracting means extracts the road and its road name which are to be displayed from the road data to display the road image in the display area determined by the display area determining means. The text data display control means moves the road name on to the road image at predetermined intervals to display it according to the display direction determined by the display direction determining means.
US08335641B2
Systems, methods, and programs search for a route to a destination and set a recommended travel lane, based on the searched for route. The systems, methods, and programs provide lane guidance to lead the vehicle into the recommended lane. The systems, methods, and programs receive a current position of the vehicle and determine a movement direction of the vehicle, based on the received current position and the recommended lane. The systems, methods, and programs determine whether to provide lane guidance based on the movement direction of the vehicle.
US08335640B2
A navigation system for a vehicle includes an input unit configured to receive an input corresponding to a destination, a determining unit configured to determine if the input destination corresponds to a route that includes a ferry route or a rail-based route, a modifying unit configured to modify the input destination to a modified destination that corresponds to a termination of a road linked to the route or in the vicinity of a terminal of the route, when it is determined that the input destination corresponds to a location on the route. A route guidance unit is configured to search for a guide route to the modified destination and perform guidance along the guide route, wherein when the navigation system in the vehicle arrives at the termination of the road or in the vicinity thereof, or when the vehicle is positioned in the vicinity of the terminal, and the navigation system is turned off, and the route guidance unit determines that the vehicle has arrived at the destination.
US08335634B2
A method for controlling a direct injection internal combustion engine and a torque machine configured to transfer torque to a driveline responsive to an operator torque request includes operating the direct injection internal combustion engine to transfer torque to the driveline, monitoring the operator torque request, determining a time constant associated with the operator torque request, detecting a fast transient condition associated with the operator torque request, providing a restricted engine torque command as a function of the operator torque request and the time constant, and during fast transient conditions controlling engine operation to achieve the restricted engine torque command, and operating the torque machine responsive to a motor torque command, the motor torque command corresponding to a difference between the operator torque request and the restricted engine torque command.
US08335625B2
A method and apparatus for rapidly causing a slip of a driving wheel to converge regardless of the change in vehicle conditions when the driving wheel is in a slip state. When a slip occurs on a driving wheel, a second driving force command value is calculated from a driving force control value controlled by driving force control means and an angular acceleration. The second driving force command value is calculated so that torque capable of being transmitted to a road surface by the driving wheel takes the maximum value. Therefore, even if the friction coefficient of road surface or the wheel load changes, the driving torque of driving wheel can be commanded properly, so that the slip can be converged rapidly. The occurrence of slip at the time of re-acceleration after slip convergence can be avoided.
US08335624B2
A pressure sensor detects the change in pressure within a cylinder in a clutch master cylinder in a case where a clutch shifts from a connected state to a disconnected state. The pressure within the cylinder is detected at a time point where a rate of the pressure increase is changed. The position of a rod in this case or the rotation angle of a motor in an actuator is detected as a touch point preparation position. The touch point preparation position is a stage preceding power generated by an engine being transmitted to the clutch. The actuator moves the rod at high speed until the position of the rod reaches the position corresponding to the touch point preparation position.
US08335618B2
An automatic shut down system for a machine having an engine and a work implement is disclosed. The automatic shut down system may have a position sensor, which may be associated with the work implement. The position sensor may be configured to generate a position signal indicative of a position of the work implement. The automatic shut down system may also have a controller, which may be in communication with the position sensor. The controller may be configured to shut down the engine, based on the position signal.
US08335616B2
A method for predicting potential injury assessment for at least one occupant of a vehicle involved in a crash event and for broadcasting assessment of the occupant to a medical response unit. An occupant seated in each seat of a vehicle is detected. Occupant data is obtained relating to physical characteristics of each occupant seated in the vehicle. A crash event involving the vehicle is detected. Vehicle dynamic data and safety restraint data during the crash event is recorded. The potential injury assessment of each occupant is predicted by an injury assessment processing module based on the vehicle dynamic data and safety restraint data obtained during the crash event and the occupant data of each occupant in the vehicle. The corresponding injury assessment of each occupant of the vehicle is broadcast to a medical response unit.
US08335610B2
In a self-contained ride level control system for a motor vehicle, the accumulator pressure is controlled as follows: determination of the current pressure Ps(current) of the compressed air accumulator (4); definition of at least one level whereto the vehicle can be lifted or lowered; determination os the air volume required for lifting or lowering the motor vehicle from the current level and bringing it to a given level; determination of the subsequent accumulator pressure Ps(later) for reducing the current accumulator pressure Ps(current) if the motor vehicle is lifted from its current level up to the given level or determination of the subsequent accumulator pressure Ps(later) for increasing the current accumulator pressure Ps(current) if the motor vehicle has been lowered from the current level to the given level; filling the compressed air accumulator (4) with compressed air if the subsequent pressure Ps(later) is below a lower threshold value Ps (U) and emptying the compressed air accumulator if the subsequent pressure Ps(later) is higher than an upper threshold value (0).
US08335609B2
A method of exposing and recording embedded avionics data using dynamically assigned labels assigns a first plurality of data labels to aircraft controller parameters designated for at least one aircraft sub-controller. A second plurality of data labels are dynamically assigned to desired embedded parameters of an aircraft main controller. At least one data word storing one of the desired embedded parameters is created. The at least one data word has one of the second plurality of data labels. The at least one data word is exposed by transmitting the at least one data word to a selective recording device. The selective recording device records the at least one data word.
US08335608B2
A sensor network for monitoring vehicle operations comprises a set of wireless gateways, a plurality of wireless sensors, a plurality of wireless routers, and data processing system. The set of wireless gateways is capable of receiving emissions data from the sensor network. The plurality of wireless sensor units has sensors capable of monitoring vehicle emissions and is capable of generating the emissions data in response to monitoring the vehicle emissions. The plurality of wireless routers is capable of receiving emissions data received from the plurality of wireless sensor units and routing the emissions data received from the plurality of sensors to the set of wireless gateways. The data processing system is capable of receiving the operations data from the set of wireless gateways and capable of processing the operations data. The operations data may include data related to emissions from the vehicle or equipment.
US08335603B2
Upon the occurrence of the abnormality that the inverter for driving the motor is in the one-phase short circuited state, this inverter is stopped in the three-phase short circuited state and sets the execution torque by subtracting the counter electromotive force application torque that is applied the driveshaft due to the counter electromotive force generated by rotation of the motor and the steering angle application torque corresponding to the steering angle from the torque demand according to the step-on amount of the accelerator pedal. The engine and the inverter for driving the motor is controlled so that the vehicle is driven with the set execution torque. This enables the driving force output to the driveshaft from the engine and the motor to be in accordance with the torque demand.
US08335602B2
A system for controlling a power propulsion unit of a hybrid type for a four-wheel-drive automotive vehicle that includes at least one electric motor part and at least one thermal engine part capable of driving the independent front and rear driving axles of the vehicle. The system includes a mechanism determining total torque set point from a request of the driver, a mechanism distributing the total torque set point, and a system optimizing the duty point, to dynamically determine the torques to be applied to each of the two driving axles and to optimize fuel consumption of the power propulsion group according to the drivability requested by the driver and driving conditions.
US08335595B2
When a fault occurs in an energy distribution network, adaptive islanding is initiated to supply energy to customers who are disconnected from the primary source of energy on the network. The customers are selectively connected to secondary energy resources that are distributed within the network. The selected customers are chosen in accordance with a profile that takes into account the amount of energy available from the distributed resources, the expected length of time to repair the fault, the recent energy demands of the customers, and levels of priority that are assigned to respective customers. These factors are monitored, and the selected customers who are connected to the distributed resources are dynamically adjusted during the time that the fault exists.
US08335592B2
Systems and methods for dispensing beverages are provided. Aspects relate to obtaining measurements regarding dispensing an ingredient (including the dispensing conditions of the ingredient) and determining whether to adjust dispensing conditions of at least one other ingredient. In one embodiment, at least one ingredient of a recipe is not dispensed based upon a dispensing measurement. The adjustment of one or more ingredients may comprise the use of adjustable orifices, which do not require separate measurements of ingredients before dispensing, but rather may measure ingredients' parameters (including dispensing conditions) as they are dispensed. Certain embodiments relate to devices and methods that may determine if an ingredient is a non-Newtonian fluid, and if so, may be configured to conduct measurements on such fluids, including, for example, the strain stress and strain rate as the fluid passes within a conduit.
US08335591B2
A robot apparatus has a multi-link structure including a plurality of links and joints serving as link movable sections, and in which at least some of the links are driven by combination of position control and force control. The apparatus includes: position controller performing position control on the links, which are driven by position control and force control; position controller with force constraint placing the force control before the position control so as not to cause a magnitude of an external force to exceed a set value; force controller performing the force control on the links; and integrated force/position controller controlling driving of the joints by switching the position controller, the position controller with force constraint, and the force controller, and unifying the position control and the force control.
US08335584B2
An embroidery data generating apparatus includes a thread color acquisition device that acquires available thread colors for an embroidery pattern, a line segment data generating device that generates line segment data, a dividing device that divides a whole area of an image into divided areas, a determining device that determines a representative color for each of the divided areas, an area thread color allocating device that allocates to the divided area at least one area thread color satisfying a predetermined condition, an associating device that associates the line segment data and the divided area, an embroidery thread color allocating device that allocates, from among the at least one area thread color, an embroidery thread color to each piece of the line segment data, a connecting line segment data generating device that generates connecting line segment data, and an embroidery data generating device that generates embroidery data.
US08335572B2
An implantable medical device lead includes an insulative lead body, an outer conductive coil extending through the lead body, and an inner conductive coil extending coaxially with the outer conductive coil. The outer conductive coil, which is coupled to a proximal electrode at a distal end of the outer conductive coil, has a first outer conductive coil diameter. The inner conductive coil is coupled to a distal electrode at a distal end of the inner conductive coil. The inner conductive coil includes a filar having a filar diameter and a coil pitch that is about one to one and a half times the filar diameter. The inner conductive coil transitions from a first inner conductive coil diameter to a larger second inner conductive coil diameter between the proximal electrode and the distal electrode.
US08335571B2
An inductive element adapted for use in implantable intravascular devices (IIDs) having an elongate form factor with a cross-section. The inductive element includes a core that has an outer surface contour that corresponds to the form factor. A set of elongate, or oblong, windings are situated lengthwise along the major length dimension of the inductive element. The windings are also situated to direct a magnetic field along a radial direction in relation to the elongate form factor. In one embodiment the form factor is generally cylindrical and the cross-section is generally round.
US08335567B2
A device and method is provided for therapeutic stimulating, augmenting, manipulating and/or controlling breathing, in combination with stimulation of auxiliary respiratory nerves or muscles including the upper airway tract, chest wall muscles or abdominal muscles. Stimulation may be provided, for example, to augment breathing or to prevent closing of the upper airway during therapeutic stimulation. Stimulation may be also provided to the Hypoglossal nerve during exhalation.
US08335565B2
Methods and systems involve adjusting an energy used for safety pacing based on the capture threshold. The safety pacing energy may be adjusted prior to a capture threshold test. During the capture threshold test, backup safety paces are delivered using the adjusted pacing energy. Following suspension of automatic capture verification, the device may enter a suspension mode. During the suspension mode, safety pacing pulses are delivered using a pacing energy adjusted based on capture threshold.
US08335562B2
A defibrillator system is disclosed including an operational state input, a user-operated information request input, and a user guidance output. The defibrillator system can be implemented as an AED, a manual defibrillator, or as a defibrillator trainer. The defibrillator system further utilizes the state and request inputs to determine a context-sensitive rescue information which is provided to the output.
US08335549B2
A power management method of a mobile communication terminal may include sensing a characteristic of a battery coupled to the mobile communication terminal, providing a power-off suspend mode for the mobile communication terminal when the sensed battery characteristic falls below a predetermined value, and further sensing the characteristic of the battery while the mobile communication terminal is in the power-off suspend mode. This may include performing a reset of the mobile communication terminal when the further sensed characteristic rises above the predetermined value while the mobile communication terminal is in the power-off suspend mode, and performing a power-off of the mobile communication terminal when the further sensed characteristic remains below the predetermined value for a prescribed time while the mobile communication terminal is in the power-off suspend mode.
US08335536B2
Wireless devices may contain multiple radio transceivers, each conforming to different communication protocols. A first transceiver conforming to a first communication protocol in a first wireless device may be able to receive, detect, and/or decode messages transmitted by a second transceiver in a second wireless device conforming to a second communication protocol. The first transceiver may communicate received, detected, and/or decoded information to a different transceiver in the same first wireless device, thus enabling the collocated transceivers to work in concert efficiently. A wideband transceiver using a set of multiple sub-channels in parallel may receive, detect, and/or decode messages transmitted by a narrowband transceiver using a set of multiple channels serially, thereby reducing scan time and power consumption.
US08335533B2
Methods and systems for implementing trunking techniques in WCDMA systems for handling group calls and push-to-talk services.
US08335529B2
A wireless communication method in which a base station and a wireless terminal communicate, including: an operation at which a first and a second base station transmit, for each beam area, a pilot signal including identification information to identify the base station and the beam area, in a beam pattern; an operation at which the wireless terminal obtains received power of each pilot signal; an operation at which the wireless terminal causes one of the beam areas of the first base station to be a desired wave beam area, and determines two data rates for requiring to the base station: one of the data rates being a first data rate used in a case that interference from the second base station is relatively high and another of the data rates being a second data rate used in a case that the interference from the second base station is relatively low.
US08335521B2
The present application provides a system for proximity awareness for mobile data communication on an electronic communication device comprising a client application on an electronic communication device communicating across a wireless network, and an awareness server that includes a plurality of server objects that monitor multiple devices on a wireless communication network. In addition, the client application on the electronic communication device comprises a plurality of software objects. The client application periodically broadcasts the current wireless tower that the device is communicating on to the awareness server. The awareness server tracks the location of other Tower IDs of other users in the individual's contact list. If there is a match in Tower IDs, an alert is sent to both users that they are in proximity to each other.
US08335517B2
A measurement control method, a UE, and a network-side device are provided to solve the problem in the prior art that no measurement control solution can ensure the UE to perform a measurement and obtain a measurement result in time, as well as reduce the impact of the measurement on the performance of the UE. The method includes the following steps. The UE receives measurement indication information provided by the network side; and the UE performs a measurement after determining that the UE needs to perform the measurement according to the measurement indication information, which ensures that the UE may not perform the measurement frequently but pertinently, and reduces the impact of the measurement on the performance of the UE to the utmost extent.
US08335513B2
A communication device which can reduce amount of control information, limit interference with other traffics, and prevent an increase in current consumption. In this device, a separation unit separates radio resource allocation information, specific section information and transmission parameter information from a received signal. A specific section information control unit selects a sub-carrier designated by the specific section information to allocate data to be transmitted to the own unit. A channel quality measuring unit uses a pilot signal to measure the channel quality of the selected sub-carrier. A channel quality information creating unit creates channel quality information indicating the measurement results input from the channel quality measuring unit. A multiplexing unit multiplexes the transmission signal with the channel quality information.
US08335501B1
Function-control instructions for controlling a function or feature of a device can be created remotely, locally, or both. A device can receive a function-control instruction or a function-control instruction embedded in received content. Additionally, or alternatively, a function-control instruction can be created locally based on user information or calibration information. Function-control instructions can be passed to an instruction execution application that interprets the function-control instruction. The instruction execution application can pass instructions, based on the function-control instruction, to the device for implementation.
US08335499B1
Various embodiments for controlling dedicated data transmit mode (DDTM) in a mobile computing device are described. In one or more embodiments, the mobile computing device may support cellular voice communication and wireless data communication. The mobile computing device may comprise a DDTM control module coupled to a DDTM application. The DDTM application may prevent mobile terminated cellular voice communication from interrupting ongoing data communication when enabled. The DDTM control module may be configured to enable and disable the DDTM application. Other embodiments are described and claimed.
US08335473B2
A device may include a communication interface configured to transmit and receive communications from a second device. The device may further include logic configured to determine whether a user of the device is in a social interaction with a user of the second device, obtain identification information associated with the second device when the user of the device is in a social interaction with the user of the second device, and store the obtained identification information associated with the second device to track the social interaction with the user of the second device.
US08335464B2
A cleaning brush for use in an electrostatographic imaging apparatus, including a plurality of individual electrically conductive fibers secured to a brush core and having fiber tips relatively remote from the brush core, wherein the cleaning brush includes an electrically conductive plane at a surface of the brush core, or between a surface of the brush core and the electrically conductive fibers, effective for inducing an electrical potential to the conductive fibers when an electrical potential is applied to the electrically conductive plane, and at least one of a relatively non-conductive layer electrically insulating the conductive plane from the conductive fibers, or electrically insulating coatings on tips of the electrically conductive fibers remote from the brush core. The insulative, or non-conductive, layer between the fibers and the conductive plane of the brush prevent excessive current draw.
US08335462B2
An image forming apparatus including: an image bearing member configured to bear the toner image; a transfer element configured to transfer the toner image to the sheet; a first application element configured to apply a transfer voltage to the transfer element; a separator configured to separate the sheet from the image bearing member, the separator including a separation electrode configured to discharge an electrical current and the separation electrode including first and second separation electrodes aligned along the transfer element; and a partition configured to project between the transfer element and the separator so as to allow a current to flow from the transfer element to the first separation electrode while the partition suppresses a current flowing from the transfer element to the second separation electrode.
US08335458B2
An image forming apparatus includes first and second drums subjected to image formation by exposure to light at exposure positions to form latent images and then transferring toner images, formed by developing the latent images with toner, onto a transfer material at transfer positions; first and second gears provided coaxially and integrally with the drums; a driving source for rotationally driving the drums; and a branch gear, meshable with the first and second gears at first and second mesh points, for transmitting a driving force from the driving source to the first and second gears. A sum of a time of movement of a portion of the branch gear located at the first mesh point to the second mesh point and a time of integer-time rotation of the branch gear is equal to a time of movement of the transfer material from the transfer position of the first drum to that of the second drum.
US08335456B2
The present invention provides an image forming apparatus which is equipped with at least a latent electrostatic image forming unit, a developing unit, a transferring unit, and a fixing unit, wherein the transferring unit is configured to apply a positive electric potential to a visible image formed on the latent electrostatic image bearing member via a recording medium, the latent electrostatic image member has a surface layer which comprises a hardened material hardened by irradiating at least a trifunctional or more radical polymerizable compound having no charge transporting structure, a radical polymerizable compound having a charge transporting structure, and a reactive silicone compound having any one of an acryloyloxy group and a methacryloyloxy group, and the concentration of the reactive silicone compound is varied in between the surface part and the innerlayer part of the surface layer.
US08335454B2
A process cartridge detachably mountable to a main assembly of an electrophotographic image forming apparatus includes a drum unit containing a movably connected to a developing unit containing a developing roller between a contact position where the roller contacts the drum and a spaced position where the roller is spaced from the drum, a drum coupler engaging a first main assembly drive transmitter transmitting a first rotational driving force to the drum, when the process cartridge is mounted to the main assembly, a shaft coupler transmitting a second rotational driving force with a deviation permitted between an axis of a second main assembly drive transmitter and an axis of the roller, from the second main assembly drive transmission member to the roller when the process cartridge is mounted to the main assembly.
US08335452B2
An image forming apparatus having a door on a side surface of a body of the apparatus. Three pivot points for supporting the door to be capable of pivoting horizontally are disposed in the rear side of the apparatus body, in an upper section, in a middle section and in a lower section, respectively. The upper pivot point and the lower pivot point are adjustable with reference to the middle pivot point.
US08335450B1
A thick film charging device is used to simultaneously heat a photoreceptor as it is being charged in order to mitigate image quality defects associated with the photoreceptor in high humidity conditions.
US08335449B2
A color printer of the invention is controlled to select DC motors needed to be newly activated according to a print mode when a print job occurs, determine an activation start time of each selected DC motor by sequentially going back activation times stored in relation to the selected DC motors from an image start reference time, activate one or ones of the DC motors to be activated according to the determined activation start times, measure an actual activation time of the activated DC motor and update a stored content about the activation time based on a measurement result of the actual activation time, and determine an activation start time of each DC motor based on the updated activation time. An image forming apparatus capable of preventing the motors from rotating more than necessary and effectively utilizing the life of components to be driven by the motors can be provided.
US08335442B2
Hard imaging devices and hard imaging methods are described. According to one embodiment, a hard imaging device includes an image engine configured to provide a marking agent upon media to form hard images, and a media sensing system configured to sense the media and to provide at least one signal comprising information indicative of a direction of grain of the media responsive to the sensing of the media, and processing circuitry configured to receive the at least one signal provided by the media sensing system and to control an operation of the hard imaging device using the information indicative of the direction of the grain of the media of the at least one signal.
US08335433B2
Certain pins of an XFP connector are re-purposed to enable the connector to receive, for example, four 11.88 Gb/s serial data streams (for a receiver), or output four 11.88 Gb/s serial data streams (for a transmitter). The four data streams are wavelength division multiplexed inside the XFP module for transmission over a single optical fiber, providing a total interface capacity of 47.52 Gb/s. An XFP receiver module is defined to convert the WDM signal back to four 11.88 Gb/s serial data streams.
US08335430B2
An optical data transmission apparatus is provided, in which a first communication unit 101 and a second communication unit 102 arranged to freely move relatively to each other each include an optical signal transmission unit having a laser diode 120 for emitting single-mode light, a multi-mode optical fiber 111 for guiding a single-mode optical signal output from the laser diode 120 , converting the single-mode optical signal into a multi-mode optical signal, and outputting the multi-mode optical signal, an optical lens 112 for forming the optical signal output from the multi-mode optical fiber 111 into parallel light, and a first polarization element for passing the optical signal polarized in a predetermined direction out of optical signals output from the optical lens 112.
US08335422B2
A cable exit trough with pivoting cover. The cover having a cover plate and a pivot plate hingedly mounted thereto for easy access to the trough. The exit trough may define an insert aperture for receiving modular cable management inserts. The modular insert providing an additional cable management device such as a curved guidewall. The cable management device may alternatively be fixed to the cable exit trough. Removable snap-mounted flanges may also be included in the exit trough.
US08335416B2
A connector assembly configured to be positioned relative to a light-emitting element. The connector assembly includes a receptacle connector that has a member cavity and a base. The connector assembly also includes a light pipe (LP) structure that has input and output ends. The input end is configured to capture light emitted from the light-emitting element. The connector assembly also includes an alignment member that is received within the member cavity of the receptacle connector and is coupled to the LP structure. The alignment member is sized to float within the member cavity to control a relative position of the input end of the LP structure with respect to the base.
US08335406B2
A temperature sensor that has an elongated sensing element having a length of at least 10 m, measured at a temperature of 20° C. The elongated sensing element includes an elongated jacket and an optical fiber mounted in the jacket and having an EFL of at least 0.35%, wherein the elongated sensing element has an average temperature error of less than 2° C.
US08335404B2
A dynamically varying image display system including an electromagnetic radiation emitting display, a thematic based sorting algorithm processor, and a display processor. The electromagnetic radiation display is configured to sequentially display a plurality of thematically classified images and the thematic based sorting algorithm processor relies on various recognition systems.
US08335403B2
Systems and methods are disclosed for processing a low resolution image by performing a high resolution edge segment extraction on the low resolution image; performing an image super resolution on each edge segment; performing reconstruction constraint reinforcement; and generating a high quality image from the low quality image.
US08335398B2
A distortion correcting apparatus includes a buffer circuit which writes image data having horizontal pixels of a first number and a vertical-distortion different depending on a horizontal pixel position, into an SDRAM. The written image data is read-out for each units of horizontal pixels, which include a reference horizontal pixel and indicates a second number smaller than the first number, in a vertical pixel direction. A buffer control circuit in the vertical-distortion correcting circuit determines a second number in such a manner as to indicate a larger numerical value as a vertical-distortion corresponding to the reference horizontal pixel is smaller so as to start the buffer circuit. Also, the buffer control circuit changes a position of the reference horizontal pixel to a position corresponding to the second number at a timing based on a correction amount of the vertical-distortion correcting circuit so as to start the above-described determining process.
US08335397B2
In a method and apparatus for removing artifacts from an image generated a charged partial beam scanning device, a scanning method is determined, and the frequency of an artifact appearing on an image can then be determined, based on scanning method. A step 703, a frequency domain for removing an artifact can be determined from the vertical and horizontal widths determined by experimentation in advance with respect to the frequency position Photography is performed to obtain an image, which is Fourier transformed and the determined frequency domain is replaced, for example, by “0.” The resulting image is subjected to inverse Fourier transformation, and displayed and stored. The flow of such processing enables decreasing an artifact appearing on an image, depending on a scanning method. The frequency domain (vertical and horizontal widths) that is to be eliminated and a method for replacement by “0” are determined in advance, depending on the kind of inspected samples and a method can be selected depending on the kind of samples.
US08335394B2
An image processing method for boundary resolution enhancement is disclosed. Firstly, an image is transferred into an image layer. Noise of the image layer is removed by a bilateral filter and crisp edges are retained at the same time. Moreover, the image layer is interpolated by an interpolation filter for resolution enhancement. The image processing method of the present invention can lower the image blur degree substantially, enhance the image resolution and be widely implemented in all sorts of image/video processing hardware devices.
US08335393B2
The invention provides an image processing apparatus which corrects a captured image obtained by capturing an object, the apparatus comprising: an acquiring unit configured to acquire, for each pixel of the captured image, information on an object distance representing a distance to the object; a calculating unit configured to calculate, based on the information on the object distance, a difference in the object distance between a pixel of interest in the captured image and a surrounding pixel of the pixel of interest; a parameter setting unit configured to set a sharpening process parameter for the pixel of interest based on the calculated difference in the object distance; and a sharpening process unit configured to perform a sharpening process for the pixel of interest by using the set parameter.
US08335391B2
There is provided an image processing apparatus and an image processing method capable of exerting a noise reduction effect corresponding to a pixel value of a target pixel. An image processing apparatus that reduces a noise included in a target pixel while reflecting a surrounding pixel located on a surrounding of the target pixel, comprises a selecting section that selects a pixel width tolerable with reference to a true value of the target pixel as a pixel value of the target pixel and correcting section that extracts either one or both pixel values, namely, a pixel value of the surrounding pixel and the pixel value of the target pixel, as a correction value for correcting the pixel value of the target pixel depending on the pixel width selected by the selecting portion.
US08335390B2
A method and apparatus of depth of field rendering which simulates larger apertures for images captured at a smaller aperture. The depth of field rendering provides selective simulation of out-of-focus effects which are attainable with cameras having a larger aperture when capturing images at a smaller aperture. A blur function model is created based on the relationship between the blur change and the aperture change. This model is used to determine the blur difference which would arise between two images taken at two different apertures. Then the out-of-focus effect is generated by blurring the image in a rendering process based on the blur difference.
US08335388B2
An image coding apparatus is mainly characterized by (i) dividing each of fields into an I-slice and P-slices, and determining the position of the I-slice in each of a predetermined number of first fields such that a current I-slice is sequentially shifted from the first end of a starting first field to the second end of an ending first field and such that a similar shift is repeated for each predetermined number of first fields, when a current field is a first field, and further (ii) determining, when the current field is the first field, that each P-slice located closer to the first end than a corresponding I-slice can refer to only a first field coded immediately before, and determining, when the current field is the second field, that at least one second field in the predetermined number of fields can refer to only a first field coded immediately before.
US08335382B2
A method and system for increasing the certainty of a silhouette matching process, where the process is being used for attitude determination of an object of interest, for example an aircraft. The method involves using one or more mask images that include structure or features that may or may not always be associated with the object of interest, and overlaying the mask image(s) onto a library image of the aircraft. Each pixel of the library image is compared against corresponding pixels of the mask image(s) to determine which pixels represent ambiguous areas of the library image. Those pixels are eliminated from consideration in determining a Fit score, where the Fit score represents a percentage value indicative of a certainty of the matching process in identifying the attitude of the aircraft. The method and system is applicable to a wide ranging variety of object detection applications.
US08335376B2
An image processing apparatus that corrects an image signal constituted by a plurality of color signals, includes a separation unit that separates the image signal into two or more subband signals; a selection unit that selects a correction processing subject color signal from the plurality of color signals; an S/N estimation unit that estimates an S/N ratio in relation to the subband signal of the color signal selected by the selection unit; a coefficient setting unit that sets a coefficient on the basis of the S/N ratio; and a correction unit that performs correction processing on the subband signal of the selected color signal by adding the subband signal of the correction processing subject color signal to the subband signal of another color signal not subject to the correction processing on the basis of the coefficient.
US08335364B2
In one example, a two points on a medical image can be identified. In this example, three or more anatomical features can be identified and labeled. For example, these labels can be displayed with other medical images that show the same anatomical features. For example, points in the L1 and L5 vertebrae can be identified, and labels for the L1-L5 vertebrae can be displayed.
US08335349B2
A method for processing data includes identifying a time signature of an infra-red (IR) beacon. Image data associated with the IR beacon is identified using the time signature.
US08335347B2
The optical recognition system determines the position and/or movement of an object (3) on a positioning device (2). The positioning device includes means (20, 21, 22) for driving the object in rotation and/or along a curvilinear or rectilinear path. The optical recognition system includes optical detection means, such as a digital camera (6), for detecting the position or orientation of the object, and a data processing station (7) for data supplied by the detection means. A certain number of different figures or references are distributed over the external surface of the object. The arrangement of each figure on the external surface of the object enables the detection means, associated with the data processing station, to determine the position or orientation of the object on the positioning device. The figures are formed by circular barcodes (10), wherein each circular barcode defines a precise position of the object (3) on the positioning device.
US08335342B2
A method for embedding coded information in a coupon with a face value denomination includes encoding that face value denomination value as a plurality of data carrying dot pair patterns where each dot is too small to be visually noticeable. For each page of a document to be rendered, the method includes determining whether the border area is blank. If found not blank the border area is cleared. Each of the plurality of data carrying dot patterns is embedded in the blank border area of the document page. The document page with the embedded data carrying dot patterns is then rendered, where each data carrying dot is too small to be visually noticeable.
US08335332B2
A method for operating a hearing aid in a hearing aid system where the hearing aid is continuously learnable for the particular user. A sound environment classification system is provided for tracking and defining sound environment classes relevant to the user. In an ongoing learning process, the classes are redefined based on new environments to which the hearing aid is subjected by the user.
US08335316B2
One embodiment provides a system for decrypting data frames in an Ethernet passive optical network (EPON). During operation, the system maintains a local cipher counter at a local node, and receives from a remote node a data frame which is encrypted based on a remote input block and a session key. The remote input block is constructed based on the remote cipher counter and a remote block counter. The system updates the local cipher counter based on a received field located in a preamble of the data frame, truncates the local cipher counter by discarding a number of least significant bits, and constructs for the received data frame a local input block based on the truncated local cipher counter, the received field, and a local block counter. The system then decrypts the data frame based on the local input block and the session key.
US08335315B2
A method of protecting digital contents includes: requesting an external device or service to perform a part of a process of decrypting encrypted contents which correspond to a leaf node among a plurality of leaf nodes in a tree used in a revocation mechanism according to whether the leaf node has been revoked; and decrypting the encrypted contents based on a response to the request. Therefore, even when the data storage capacity of a device is small or the data processing capability thereof is low, the contents encrypted according to a broadcast encryption scheme can be decrypted.
US08335298B2
A system and method to assist an emergency medical dispatcher in responding to emergency calls. A computer implemented emergency medical dispatch protocol includes interrogatories for a dispatcher to ask a caller to generate an appropriate response. A diagnostic tool is provided to aid the dispatcher in gathering symptom information for a patient who may be suffering from a pandemic illness, such as a severe respiratory infection like influenza. The diagnostic tool facilitates uniform and consistent gathering of symptom information relating to a pandemic outbreak. The information may be stored and/or processed for use in monitoring and/or tracking pandemic outbreaks. The diagnostic tool can be launched automatically by the emergency dispatch protocol, or manually by a dispatcher. The diagnostic tool presents a user interface that provides, among other things, instructions, symptoms, and input fields.
US08335294B2
The invention relates to a process for acquisition of one or more radiological image(s) of an object of a region of interest on a patient, obtained by means of a radiological imaging system, in which the system includes: a radiation source, a detector arranged opposite the source and at least one anti-diffusion grid, which process includes steps consisting of: determining characteristics of the object to be imaged; controlling, according to the characteristics determined, a movement of the anti-diffusion grid in order to position it in or remove it from an operational position between the object and the detector, in which the operational position corresponds to a position of the grid centered on the source-detector axis and parallel to the plane including the detector; and acquiring images of the structure exposed to the radiation emitted by the source.
US08335293B1
Disclosed is a spacer grid assembly with mixing vanes supporting fuel rods of nuclear fuel assemblies and mixing coolant that flows around the fuel rods, and more particularly, a spacer grid equipped with mixing vanes that mix coolant flowing around fuel rods.The spacer grid with hydraulically balanced mixing vane patterns, in the spacer grid equipped with a strip dividing a plurality of unit grid cells and a plurality of springs, protruded in uniform directions of vertical and horizontal directions on a grid surface of the strip and supporting nuclear fuel rods, which includes: a plurality of mixing vanes protruded to the downstream of coolant on an upper end of the inner grid surface, wherein positions and directions of the mixing vanes are formed in regular patterns on the spacer grid. Thus, it can minimize coolant flow induced vibration of the spacer grid by balancing hydraulic load generated by the mixing vanes, around the center of the spacer grids.
US08335288B2
In a method for communication, first and second signals for timing synchronization are generated. Frequencies of the first and second signals are converted to other frequencies to obtain a first and second RF signals, which have a specific frequency gap therebetween. The first and second RF signals are combined to obtain a transmission signal, and the transmission signal is transmitted. When the transmission signal is received as a received signal, the frequency of the received signal is shifted by the specific frequency gap to obtain a converted signal. A complex conjugation of the converted signal calculated to obtain a complex conjugation signal. The received signal and the complex conjugation signal are multiplied to obtain a multiplication signal to calculate cross-correlation between a product of the first and second signals and the multiplication signal. A peak of the cross-correlation is detected to set a base time for timing synchronization.
US08335285B2
A communication apparatus includes a radio-frequency transmission-reception processing unit configured to perform radio-frequency processing to a transmitted signal and a received signal; a baseband processing unit configured to perform baseband processing; a signal detecting unit configured to detect a signal from which a signal transmitted from another communication system is detected; and an interference-to-another-communication-system avoiding unit configured to suppress an interfering signal to the other communication system in radio-frequency transmission processing by the radio-frequency transmission-reception processing unit if the signal detecting unit detects a signal.
US08335280B2
A digital broadcasting system and a data processing method are disclosed. The receiving system of the digital broadcasting system includes a baseband processor, a first handler, a second handler, and a storage unit. The baseband processor receives a broadcast signal including mobile service data and main service data. Herein, the mobile service data may configure an RS frame, and the RS frame may include the mobile service data and first signaling information of a first data type on the mobile service data. The first handler parses the first signaling information received from the RS frame, converts parsed data elements of the first data type to a second data type, and merges multiple identification information of the parsed first data type, thereby generating identification information of the second data type. The second handler receives second signaling information of the second data type on the mobile service data, the second signaling information including at least one fragment, uses the identification information of the second data type included in the first handler to search at least one fragment within the second signaling information, and maps data elements received through the searched fragment with the data elements converted to the second data type.
US08335276B2
Provided is a method for transmitting an uplink Channel Sounding (CS) Reference Signal (RS) channel in a wireless communication system. The method includes transmitting symbols of the CS RS channel through an entire system band in a previously selected at least one of Long Blocks (LBs) constituting one time slot of a subframe; and transmitting symbols of control channels through a predetermined band in LBs remaining after symbols of the CS RS channel are applied in the time slot, by applying an orthogonal sequence determined according to the number of LBs to which symbols of the CS RS channel are applied.
US08335268B2
The present invention relates to a multiple antenna transmission system and a signal transmission method In the signal transmission method using multiple antennas, a plurality of subcarrier symbols are grouped as a plurality of groups including first and second tiles that are basic resource management units including two or more subcarriers included in a set frequency domain, phases of subcarrier symbols included in a first tile are shifted to be a first phase shifting value, and phases of subcarrier symbols included in a second tile are shifted to be a second phase shifting value that is different from the first phase shifting value.
US08335262B2
Described are computer-based methods and apparatuses, including computer program products, for dynamic rate adjustment to splice video streams. A splicer receives a first compressed video stream of bits and buffers the first video stream of bits in a first buffer. The splicer receives a second compressed video stream of bits to splice into the first compressed video stream. The splicer buffers the second compressed video stream of bits in a second buffer. The splicer determines a departure time for a splice in-point of the second compressed video stream of bits. The splicer adjusts a rate of the first compressed video stream of bits, a rate of the second compressed video stream of bits, or both to achieve the departure time.
US08335254B1
Integrated imaging and GPS network monitors remote object movement. Browser interface displays objects and detectors. Database stores object position movement. Cameras detect objects and generate image signal. Internet provides selectable connection between system controller and various cameras according to object positions.
US08335251B2
A video signature extraction device includes an each-picture feature extraction unit which extracts a feature of each picture, which is a frame or a field, as an each-picture visual feature from an input video; a time axial direction change region extraction unit which analyzes an image change in a time direction with respect to predetermined regions in a picture from the video, obtains a region having a large image change, and generates change region information which is information designating the region; an each-region feature extraction unit which extracts a feature of the region corresponding to the change region information as an each-region visual feature from the video; and a multiplexing unit which multiplexes the each-picture visual feature, the each-region visual feature, and the change region information, and generates a video signature.
US08335250B2
A baseband signal is processed by amplifying a first pulse width modulation radio frequency signal having a first non-negligible peak-to-peak amplitude and a second non-negligible peak-to-peak amplitude larger than the first non-negligible peak-to-peak amplitude. A second pulse width modulation radio frequency signal is also amplified, the second pulse width modulation radio frequency signal having a third non-negligible peak-to-peak amplitude approximately equal to the second non-negligible peak-to-peak amplitude of the first pulse width modulation signal when the baseband signal power is at or above the second threshold level. The amplified signals are constructively combined to form a pulse width modulation radio frequency signal comprising a plurality of non-negligible peak-to-peak amplitude levels each corresponding to a different baseband signal power range.
US08335248B2
Systems and methodologies are described that facilitate equalization of received signals in a wireless communication environment. Using multiple transmit and/or receive antennas and MIMO technology, multiple data streams can be transmitted within a single tone. During equalization, receivers can separate data received within a tone into individual data streams. The equalization process generally is computationally expensive. Equalizer functions include the inverse operation, which can be computed using the fast square root method; however, the fast square root method involves large numbers of computations for a set of matrices, where the size of a matrix in the set of matrices increases with the number of transmit or receive antennas. Utilizing a modification of the fast square root method, a subset of the elements of the matrices can be selected and updated to reduce the number and/or complexity of computations.
US08335245B2
In a mobile communication system using a code division multiple access (CDMA) method, spreading code detection and frame/slot timing synchronization (cell search) is conducted by using a long code masked symbol. The spreading factor of the long code masked symbol is set to a value lower than spreading factors of other ordinary symbols. As a result, it becomes possible to reduce the circuit scale and power dissipation of the mobile terminal and raise the speed of cell search.
US08335242B2
Provided is a semiconductor laser device that is free from or suffers less from deterioration resulting from a surge or that is less likely to suffer from deterioration resulting from a surge. The semiconductor laser device has a conductive stem 101, a submount 102 fixed to the stem 101, a nitride semiconductor laser chip 103 mounted on the submount 102, pins 104 and 105 fixed to the stem 101 but insulated therefrom, a wire connecting the pin 104 to a p-electrode of the nitride semiconductor laser chip 103, a wire connecting the pin 105 to an n-electrode of the nitride semiconductor laser chip 103, and a cap 106 enclosing the nitride semiconductor laser chip 103 and the submount 102 and fixed to the stem 101.
US08335231B2
Provided are methods and apparatus that enforce zoning rules by separately employing source and destination information. In certain embodiments, information uniquely identifying network destinations is provided on a destination CAM. In these embodiments, each destination identified in the destination CAM has an associated zoning decision vector provided in a results memory. The vector provides specific zoning decisions (permit or deny transmission) for specific sources on the network. The specific zoning decision to be applied to a frame under consideration is selected from a zoning decision vector by using source information taken from the frame.
US08335227B2
A multimedia device configured to support video in a session of a call includes one or more media providing devices and one or more computer codes directed to performing an initialization process for the one or more media providing devices. The initialization process may be performed at an initialization time prior to or substantially equal to a first time prior to or substantially equal to a reception time associated with receiving an indication of call acceptance from a called device, or second time prior to or substantially equal to an acceptance time associated with call acceptance by the multimedia device. The multimedia device also includes one or more computer codes directed to transmitting one or more preferences for the session according to a session setup procedure, one or more media processors coupled to the one or more media providing devices, and one or more computer codes directed to transmitting media on one or more media channels associated with the session.
US08335222B2
A method and apparatus supporting the handling of calls using simulcasting of multimedia information are disclosed. Multimedia information exchanged by an associated access device and a gateway. The access device may request for the multimedia information to be recorded during a call, request retrieval of the multimedia information, and playback the multimedia information. The gateway may store the received multimedia information locally or may communicate the multimedia information to storage. The gateway may cause a user of the access device to be notified of the availability of multimedia information for a recorded call, and may communicate the multimedia information to the access device for playback. A user may be notified if storage and bandwidth for the recording of a call is not available.
US08335221B2
A method for listening to signal tone from a called party by a calling party during network interworking. When the media gateway control unit receives an Address Complete message or Call Progress message from the circuit domain network, the media gateway control unit instructs a media gateway to open a media stream channel. If the received message carries an indicator indicating the called party is free, the media gateway control unit sends a Ringing response message to the packet core network; if the received message does not carry a indicator indicating the called party is free, the media gateway control unit sends a response message carrying indicator of failed call but successful media stream setup or a response message indicating failed call but successful media stream setup to the packet core network. With the method according to the embodiments of the present invention, the calling party may hear ring-back tone indicating successful call, or signal tone or voice announcement indicating failed call.
US08335219B2
Employing an asymmetric protocol, multiple sources reliably broadcast dynamically changing routing tables incrementally across multiple consumers from a single distributor. Each of multiple sources send current tables to the distributor using a snapshot mechanism. Message are buffered, segmented, paced by timers, and broadcast to the consumers repetitively at the distributor. Negative acknowledgments from the consumer request missing messages from the distributor after receipt of a keepalive message from the distributor. The distributor marks the missing messages and retransmits replacements from a history buffer only after firing of a resend timer. A unique Session ID included in all messages originating from each particular source facilitates reliable table distribution from multiple sources to multiple consumers via a single distributor.
US08335216B2
There is described a network facsimile apparatus, which makes it possible to quickly complete the transmitting operation of reserved image data whose transmission is temporarily suspended due to the BUSY status of the receiver side, etc. The apparatus, serving as a caller that conducts image data communicating operations with other apparatuses serving as callees based on a Session Initiation Protocol, includes a control section to suspend an operation for transmitting image data to the first callee; a storage section to store the first IP address of the first callee; a network interface control section; and a comparing section to compare the first IP address with the second IP address. When the control section determines that the first IP address and the second IP address coincide with each other, the control section transmits the reserved image data, transmission of which is currently suspended, to the second callee.
US08335211B2
When an IP terminal on the Internet side transmits a name resolution request, which requests to resolve the FQDN of a public server connected to a router, to a SIP/DNS server in which SIP and DNS cooperate to manage the status of the data line of the router and when the data communication line status of the router is a disconnect status, a data communication line connection request instruction is transmitted to the router. The router connects the data communication line and notifies the SIP/DNS server about the result. The SIP/DNS server transmits the IP address of the router to the IP terminal as a response.
US08335209B2
This invention overcomes the problem of delay associated with establishing connections with individual phones by providing a method for sending a virtual real time voice message processed through a VOIP system to a group of phones concurrently. The method includes assembling a portion of the voice message. The voice message includes a voice portion and an address portion. The voice portion of the voice message is buffered in a digital buffer. The address portion is used to determine the address of each phone in the group. After the address of each phone in the group is determined, an attempt is made to establish a connection with each phone. The method further includes waiting for a period of time. The period of time is determined based at least in part on a time duration required to establish a connection with a phone. After waiting the period of time, the voice portion of the voice message is sent to at least one phone in the group of phones.
US08335207B2
Embodiments of the present invention provide a method for tracking link mobility between two mobile nodes. Each node estimates a link mobility state of a link between itself and each of its neighbor nodes, accumulates successively the link mobility states, estimates link mobility parameters using the successively estimated link mobility states, and predicts a link availability probability using the link mobility parameters. The link mobility tracking can be applied to various routing protocols so as to implement mobility aware routing which enhance the routing performance.
US08335206B1
A common coexistence timer can be implemented on collocated or proximate wireless radio devices so that timing information associated with scheduled communications of each of the wireless radio devices is communicated with a common time reference. The coexistence timer provides the common time reference for the wireless radio devices. A transmitting wireless radio device can calculate a difference time associated with the timing information of a scheduled communication and can provide the difference time to a receiving wireless radio device. The receiving wireless radio device can convert the difference time into a time format corresponding to the receiving wireless radio device's local time reference. This can minimize interference between the collocated or proximate wireless radio devices, thus minimizing performance degradation, packet collision, and interference. Moreover, this also can eliminate timing errors due to the wireless radio devices using different timers operating at different frequencies or being synchronized to different crystals.
US08335204B2
A wireless local area network (WLAN) gateway may use a modified LTE radio frame and TV white space spectrum for data communications in a wireless local area network. In the modified LTE downlink frame a predefined subset of the pilot (reference) symbol subcarriers are used to carry information to data sinks in the WLAN.
US08335201B2
A call control method, a communication system, and relevant devices are provided so that communications can be implemented under different network conditions based on the same number. The method includes: receiving a call request of a calling terminal, where the call request carries a called terminal number; querying a Home Location Register (HLR) of a called terminal according to the called terminal number; obtaining a Supplementary Service Code (SS_Code) from the HLR, where the SS_Code carries a Mobile Station International ISDN Number (MSISDN)-based IP Multimedia Subsystem (IMS) service identifier; and triggering an Application Server (AS) to implement an MSISDN-based IMS service according to the MSISDN-based IMS service identifier. A communication system and relevant devices are also provided.
US08335182B2
A digital broadcasting system and a method for transmitting and receiving digital broadcast signal are disclosed. The method of transmitting digital broadcast signal includes convolutional encoding mobile data to build SCCC blocks, generating signaling data, forming a first data group and a second data group which includes mobile service data and the signaling data, interleaving data including the mobile service data in the first and second data groups and outputting a interleaved first data group and an interleaved second data group, wherein at least one of the SCCC blocks include an extension data block from the interleaved first data group and a data block from the interleaved second data group, transmitting the digital broadcasting signal including the first data group and the second data group.
US08335178B2
A user terminal (MS) is in wireless communication with a relay station (Access RS), the relay station being in communication with a super-ordinate station such as a base station (MR-BS) such that the user terminal can perform either single-hop communication with the access relay station or multi-hop communication with the super-ordinate station. The system defines at least one specific signal to be used in a bandwidth request for multi-hop and/or single hop communication. When the user terminal needs bandwidth, it issues a bandwidth request to the relay station indicating a single hop or multi-hop communication by including or not including the specific signal. The relay station decides whether or not to issue its own bandwidth request to the super-ordinate station based on the presence or absence of the specific signal.
US08335171B1
A method includes receiving configuration data for configuring network devices; generating remote procedure calls (RPCs) for configuring the network devices, which include provisioning and reverse provisioning RPCs, where each reverse provisioning RPC reverse provisions a particular pseudowire; providing to the network devices the provisioning RPCs; determining a success with respect to each of the provisioning RPCs, where the success indicates that all endpoints of a pseudowire have been successfully configured; providing the reverse provisioning RPCs to the network devices, when it is determined that the success has not been achieved; and storing an indication of success when it is determined that the success has been achieved with respect to the provisioning RPCs.
US08335169B2
A method for processing a Buffer Status Report (BSR) is provided, which includes: acquiring service data with a higher priority than all service data waiting to be sent in a sending buffer; and prohibiting a sending process of the BSR from being triggered, if scheduling resources are available. An apparatus for processing a BSR is further provided.
US08335168B2
A base station apparatus includes a measurement unit, a scheduling unit, and a transmission unit. The measurement unit measures received quality of a reference signal. The scheduling unit provides scheduling information indicating allocation of a radio resource in uplink. The transmission unit transmits a control signal including the scheduling information. After a first packet is transmitted using a first frequency band, a retransmission packet of the first packet is transmitted using a second frequency band other than the first frequency band. The control signal further includes information indicating a difference between received quality in the first frequency band and that in the second frequency band. The retransmission packet is transmitted at a transmission power level determined by adding a transmission power level of the first packet to that corresponding to the difference.
US08335165B2
This invention is a method of wireless communication having a communications protocol providing more downlink subframes than uplink subframes. The user equipment transmits a combination of a plurality of ACK/NAK response signals and related data. The related data could be the number of bits N of the plurality of ACK/NAK response signals or the number of detected downlink communications grants S requiring ACK/NAK response signals. This related data could be a cyclical redundancy check set of bits which may be scrambled upon the numbers N or S. Similar selections are feasible with resource elements or an index of a modulation symbol or codeword.
US08335162B2
Methods and apparatus to control traffic in a packet-switched network are disclosed. An example circuit manager comprises a probe interface to collect data representative of actual utilization of a network, a usage analyzer to estimate a utilization of the network for a future time interval based on the collected data, and a rebalancer to detect a trigger event based on the estimated utilization, and to automatically identify a future virtual circuit path through the network for the future time interval based on the estimated utilization when the trigger event is detected; wherein the probe interface, the usage analyzer and the rebalancer operate repetitively to route data in the network in response to actual data transmissions.
US08335155B2
A packet transmission method for a WPAN that for alleviating traffic concentration in an active period and improving network throughput by controlling packet transmission timing in the active period. A packet transmission method for a wireless personal area network including a coordinator operating with a specific duty cycle and a plurality of devices includes determining, when a packet is generated, whether there is another packet waiting to be sent; determining, if there is no other packet waiting to be sent, whether the network is in an inactive period; setting, when network is in an inactive period, a backoff time; and sending the packet when the backoff time has expired. The packet transmission method controls an initial backoff value adaptively to a duty cycle of the network.
US08335148B2
A polymerizable compound represented by the following formula (1): wherein A is a hydrogen atom or a group selected from the following formulae (2) to (5): VwH(3-W)C— (2) PhxY(3-x)Si— (3) J-(CH2)m1—CHl(CH3)(2-l)— (4) J-(CH2)n1—SiPhp1(CH3)(2-p1)— (5); B is a group selected from the following formulae (6) and (7): J-(CH2)m2—CHk(CH3)(2-k)— (6) J-(CH2)n2—SiPhp2(CH3)(2-p2)— (7).
US08335141B2
Provided are an optical disc discrimination method, an optical disc device and an integrated circuit that enable to accurately discriminate the type of an optical disc. The optical disc discrimination method comprises a first seeking step (S3) of performing a seek operation to a predetermined reference address in a user data area; a second seeking step (S5) of performing a seek operation from the reference address sought in the first seeking step (S3) to a predetermined target address in a physical information area, an address reading step (S7) of reading a current address at a position sought in the second seeking step (S5), and an optical disc type determination step (S8 through S10) of determining the type of the optical disc loaded in the optical disc device, based on the current address read in the address reading step (S7).
US08335139B2
There is provided a control device including a recording portion that records data on a disk by shining a laser beam onto a recording surface of the disk, a reading portion that reads the data on the disk, a control parameter computation portion that computes a control parameter, a differential computation portion that computes a differential between the control parameter and a value that is set in advance for the disk, a determination portion that determines whether the differential that the differential computation portion has computed is within a range of a dead band, an output value computation portion that computes an output value for the laser beam, an output control portion that controls the laser beam, a storage portion that stores a plurality of combinations of the dead band and the gain, and a selecting portion that selects one of the combinations of the dead band and the gain.
US08335135B2
When a stepping motor is driven to rotate by a main driving pulse, if an induced signal exceeding a reference threshold voltage is detected only in a third segment, a pulse down operation is performed, and the main driving pulse is not changed when the same is detected in at least a first and the third segments. When it is detected only in a second and the third segments, a rank-up is performed without performing the driving by a correction drive pulse and, when it is not detected in at least the third segment, the rank up operation is performed after the driving by the correction driving pulse.
US08335134B1
A clock device for switching between standard and daylight saving time. The device features a housing with standard alarm clock features. A recess is disposed in the front of the housing. A digital display piece having a front face with a first digital display and a back face with a second digital display snaps into the recess in the housing. The digital display piece can rotate such that either the first or the second digital display faces forwardly. The first digital display is adapted to display standard time and the second digital display is adapted to display daylight saving time. A time change button is disposed on housing, the time change button can pivot between a standard time position and a daylight saving time position. The time change button rotates the digital display piece such that either the first digital display faces forwardly or the second digital display faces forwardly.
US08335124B2
In one embodiment, an external signal input circuit of a semiconductor memory may include: an input block configured to receive a plurality of external signals and to generate a plurality of internal signals; and a control block configured to output one or more internal signals of the plurality of internal signals that correspond to a rank configuration of the semiconductor memory and to block output of one or more internal signals of the plurality of internal signals that do not correspond to the rank configuration.
US08335121B2
A device, and a corresponding method of implementation, for SRAM memory information storage are provided. The device is powered by a supply voltage and includes an array of base cells organized in base columns, and at least one mirror column of at least one mirror cell liable to simulate the behavior of the cells in a base column. The device further includes Emulation means, in a mirror column, of the most restricting cell in a base column, Means for varying a mirror power supply voltage for the mirror column, and Means for copying the mirror power supply voltage in the emulated base column.
US08335119B1
A method of inspecting a memory cell is provided, including: providing a semiconductor substrate with a capacitor formed therein and a transistor formed thereon, wherein the transistor is electrically connected to the capacitor; inspecting a size of a top surface of the capacitor and a pitch between the capacitor and the transistor electrically connected thereto by an optical measuring system, thereby obtaining a first measurement data and a second measurement data; and comparing the first and second measurement data with designed specifications of the capacitor and transistor, thereby determining functionality of the memory cell comprising the capacitor and the transistor.
US08335114B2
In a memory cell array, a plurality of memory cells connected to a plurality of word lines and a plurality of bit lines are arranged in a matrix. A control circuit controls the potentials of said plurality of word lines and said plurality of bit lines. In an erase operation, the control circuit erases an n number of memory cells (n is a natural number equal to or larger than 2) of said plurality of memory cells at the same time using a first erase voltage, carries out a verify operation using a first verify level, finds the number of cells k (k≦n) exceeding the first verify level, determines a second erase voltage according to the number k, and carries out an erase operation again using the second erase voltage.
US08335111B2
A non-volatile semiconductor storage device includes: a memory string; a select transistor; and a carrier selection element. The select transistor has one end connected to one end of the memory string. The carrier selection element has one end connected to the other end of the select transistor, and selects a majority carrier flowing through respective bodies of the memory transistors and the select transistor. The carrier selection element includes: a third semiconductor layer; a metal layer; a second gate insulation layer; and a third conductive layer. The metal layer extends in the vertical direction. The metal layer extends in the vertical direction from the top of the third semiconductor layer. The second gate insulation layer surrounds the third semiconductor layer and the metal layer. The third conductive layer surrounds the third semiconductor layer and the metal layer via the second gate insulation layer and extends in a parallel direction.
US08335109B2
Disclosed is a nonvolatile memory device which includes a plurality of cell array layers stacked on a semiconductor substrate. Each of the plurality of cell array layers includes a plurality of strings. Each of the plurality of strings has string and ground select transistors and a plurality of memory cells connected in series between the string and ground select transistors. A common source line is on each of the plurality of cell array layers. Each common source line is connected with first sides of the plurality of strings on a corresponding cell array layer. A plurality of bit lines is connected with second sides of the plurality of strings disposed on the cell array layers and arranged in the vertical direction to the semiconductor substrate. A plurality of word lines is connected with the plurality of memory cells.
US08335106B2
To include a superlattice laminate having laminated thereon a first crystal layer of which crystal lattice is a cubic crystal and in which positions of constituent atoms are reversibly replaced by application of energy, and a second crystal layer having a composition different from that of the first crystal layer, and an orientation layer that is an underlaying layer of the superlattice laminate and causes a laminated surface of the first crystal layer to be (111)-orientated. According to the present invention, the laminated surface of the first crystal layer can be (111)-orientated by using the orientation layer as an underlaying layer. In the first crystal layer of which laminated surface is (111)-orientated, a crystal structure reversibly changes when a relatively low energy is applied. Therefore, characteristics of a superlattice device having this crystal layer can be enhanced.
US08335104B2
A PCRAM cell has a high resistivity bottom electrode cap to provide partial heating near the interface between the cell and the bottom electrode, preventing separation of the amorphous GST region from the bottom electrode, and reducing the programming current requirements.
US08335097B2
A semiconductor device providing a control circuit for controlling a switching power supply apparatus includes: an intermittent-oscillation control circuit which outputs an enable signal providing instructions to execute and suspend switching alternately; a turn-on control circuit which changes between an execution state and a suspension state of the switching according to the enable signal, and outputs, only in the execution state, a turn-on signal which turns on the switching element with a switching period; and an intermittent-oscillation frequency control circuit which causes the turn-on control circuit to delay the changing between the execution state and the suspension state so that an intermittence period including periods during which the turn-on control circuit is in the execution state and the turn-on control circuit is in the suspension state falls outside of a specific time range. Intermittent oscillation is thus operated out of a specific frequency band within an audible frequency range.
US08335070B2
A reinforcement apparatus is for reinforcing a thin plate-like reinforcement object which is required to be temporarily reinforced in operating processes. The electrostatic-type reinforcement apparatus includes a reinforcement material body including a thin plate type electrostatic holding part formed by burying an electrode part into an electric insulating layer, and a voltage controller constituted to be separated from the reinforcement material body and having a first connecting terminal configured to allow an reinforcement object conducted to an earth and a second connecting terminal configured to allow the electrode part to be conducted to an earth or a high voltage. The voltage controller includes an attracting process part configured to attract the reinforcement object by generating an attraction force in the electrostatic holding part by supplying an electric charge of a reverse polarity to the charges supplied to the electrode part to the reinforcement object from the earth and an attraction releasing process part configured to cancel an electrostatic attracting ability by releasing charges stored in the reinforcing object and the electrode part from the earth.
US08335068B2
Disclosed are various embodiments of voltage protectors that include a first voltage clamping device configured to clamp a voltage of an input power applied to an electrical load, and a second voltage clamping device configured to clamp the voltage applied to the electrical load. A series inductance separates the first and second voltage clamping devices. Also, a switching element is employed to selectively establish a direct coupling of the input power to the electrical load, where a circuit is employed to control the operation of the switching element.
US08335064B2
Embodiments of this disclosure relate to electrostatic discharge (ESD) protection techniques. For example, some embodiments include a variable resistor that selectively shunts power of an incoming ESD pulse from a first circuit node to a second circuit node and away from a semiconductor device. A control voltage provided to the variable resistor causes the transistor to change between a fully-off mode where only sub-threshold current, if any, flows; a fully-on mode wherein a maximum amount of current flows; and an analog mode wherein an intermediate and time-varying amount of current flows. In particular, the analog mode allows the ESD protection device to shunt power more precisely than previously achievable, such that the ESD protection device can protect semiconductor devices from ESD pulses.
US08335062B2
The present invention is directed to an electrical device configured to be disposed in an electrical distribution system between a source of electrical power and an electrical load. The electrical distribution system includes at least one line hot conductor, a line neutral conductor, and a line ground conductor. The line neutral conductor and the line ground conductor are connected to earth ground at a termination point in the electrical distribution system. The electrical load includes at least one load hot conductor, a load neutral conductor, and a load ground conductor. The device comprises a power supply coupled to the power input mechanism. The power supply comprises at least one DC voltage output terminal and a reference terminal coupled to the line ground termination element. A voltage parameter detection circuit is configured to take a first voltage reading from a first termination element of the plurality of line termination elements and a second voltage reading from a second termination element of the plurality of line termination elements to derive at least one voltage parameter therefrom. The first voltage reading and the second voltage reading are referenced to the reference terminal. The circuit interrupter is driven into the tripped state if the at least one voltage parameter does not meet a predetermined condition, the voltage parameter detection circuit being operational when the reference terminal is not at an earth ground potential.
US08335058B2
A magnetic sensor includes a reference layer having a first magnetization direction and a free layer assembly having an effective magnetization direction substantially perpendicular to the first magnetization direction and substantially perpendicular to a plane of each layer of the free layer assembly. A spacer layer is between the reference layer and the free layer, and a signal enhancement layer is exchange coupled to the free layer assembly on a side opposite the spacer layer.
US08335057B2
According to one embodiment, a CPP magnetoresistive head includes a magnetoresistive film comprising a free layer above a non-magnetic intermediate layer and a fixed layer below the non-magnetic intermediate layer, wherein the magnetoresistive film is between a lower magnetic shield layer and an upper magnetic shield layer. The CPP magnetoresistive head also includes a domain control film on each side of the magnetoresistive film, wherein a sense current flows through the magnetoresistive film between the upper magnetic shield layer and the lower magnetic shield layer. The CPP magnetoresistive head also includes a high heat conductivity layer, and a heat dissipation layer having a high heat conductivity and a low linear expansion coefficient, the heat dissipation layer being disposed at the back in a device height direction of the magnetoresistive film and on each side of the domain control film.
US08335056B2
Read sensors and associated methods of fabrication are disclosed. A read sensor as disclosed herein includes a first shield, a sensor stack including an antiparallel (AP) free layer, and insulating material disposed on the sensor stack. A aperture is formed through the insulating material above the sensor stack so that a subsequently deposited second shield is electrically coupled to the sensor stack through the aperture. The width of the aperture controls the current density that is injected into the top of the sensor stack. Also, hard bias structures may be formed to be electrically coupled to the sensor stack. The electrical coupling of the sensor stack and the hard bias structures allows current to laterally spread out as it passes through the sensor stack, and hence, provides a non-uniform current density.
US08335051B2
A recording head having a narrowed track has a high recording magnetic field strength and a high recording magnetic field gradient has certain problems which may be difficult to overcome. In one embodiment, a magnetic film, which overhangs from a track width, is provided on a trailing side of a. region retracted from an ABS of a main pole facing a recording medium. Thereby, a magnetic field strength on the trailing side is increased so that a difference in distribution of magnetic field strength defined by a geometrical bevel angle given to the main pole is increased. Consequently, writing performance of the main pole is improved while forming a large magnetic clearance angle with respect to an adjacent track and suppresses writing into an adjacent track when skew occurs. Other systems and methods are also disclosed regarding a head with a high recording magnetic field using an overhanging magnetic film.
US08335049B1
A disk drive is disclosed comprising a first disk surface, a first head coupled to a distal end of an actuator arm, and a voice coil motor (VCM) and a first microactuator operable to actuate the first head over the first disk surface. A servo loop for servoing the head in response to the servo sectors is disabled, and after disabling the servo loop, the first microactuator is excited with a control signal at a test frequency in order to accentuate a crack in the first microactuator. After exciting the first microactuator, the servo loop is enabled, and after enabling the servo loop, the first microactuator is evaluated to detect the crack in the first microactuator.
US08335046B2
A color filter substrate includes a plurality of color filters and a first dummy pattern. The color filters are formed in a display area. The color filters include a plurality of colors. The first dummy pattern is formed in a peripheral area surrounding the display area. The first dummy pattern has a color identical to one of the colors. An edge portion of the first dummy pattern corresponding to an apex of the display area is rounded. Therefore, the reliability of a color filter manufacturing process may be improved, the reliability of the color filter may be improved, and the generation of stain defects having a radial shape may be prevented, so that display quality may be improved.
US08335040B2
A head-mounted display apparatus includes an image display device, a wearing device with which the image display device is worn on a head of an observer, and an attachment member with which the image display device is attached to the wearing device. The attachment member is capable of adjusting a position of the image display device relative to the wearing device independently in a first direction and in a second direction, the first direction being defined by a virtual line connecting centers of eyes of the observer, the second direction being perpendicular to the first direction and extending vertically with respect to the observer.
US08335039B2
An apparatus for measuring an image of a pattern to be formed on a semiconductor by scanning the pattern using a scanner, the apparatus including an EUV mask including the pattern, a zoneplate lens on a first side of the EUV mask and adapted to focus EUV light on a portion of the EUV mask at a same angle as an angle at which the scanner will be disposed with respect to a normal line of the EUV mask, and a detector arranged on another side of the EUV mask and adapted to sense energy of the EUV light from the EUV mask, wherein NAzoneplate=NAscanner/n and NAdetector=NAscanner/n*σ, where NAzoneplate denotes a NA of the zoneplate lens, NAdetector denotes a NA of the detector, and NAscanner denotes a NA of the scanner, σ denotes an off-axis degree of the scanner, and n denotes a reduction magnification of the scanner.
US08335037B2
[Problem] When a nonreciprocal device operating at 100 GHz to 300 GHz is to be realized by using a conventional magnetic material of garnet-type ferrite or spinel-type ferrite, a huge permanent magnet is required and, therefore, it is very difficult to achieve a millimeter-wave band nonreciprocal device for practical use.[Solving means] To solve this problem, there is provided a millimeter-wave band nonreciprocal device composed of a magnetic material represented by a formula ε-MxFe2-xO3 (0
US08335036B2
An illumination optical system includes, in order from a light source side a collector lens, a field stop, a field lens having positive power, an aperture stop, and a collective lens having positive power. The illumination optical system is a substantially both-side telecentric optical system between the field stop and a sample surface, and satisfies the following conditional expressions where DFS indicates a diameter of the field stop, β indicates a magnification from the sample surface to the field stop, and NA indicates a numerical aperture on the sample surface side of the illumination optical system. 15≧DFS/β≧9 (1) 0.85≧NA≧0.5 (2)
US08335029B2
Methods, arrays, and systems for the optical analysis of multiple chemical, biological, or biochemical reactions are provided. The invention includes methods for producing arrays of micromirrors on transparent substrates, each micromirror comprising a nanostructure or optical confinement on its top. The arrays are produced by a process in which lateral dimensions of both the nanostructures and micromirrors are defined in a single step, allowing for control of the relative placement of the features on the substrate, minimizing the process-related defects, allowing for improved optical performance and consistency. In some aspects, the invention provides methods of selectively etching large features on a substrate while not concurrently etching small features. In some aspects, the invention provides methods of etching large features on a substrate using hard mask materials.
US08335027B2
A color reproduction meth a color printing apparatus which reproduces a color by a combination of a black plate and a plurality of chromatic color materials, which calculates color control values including a quantity of addition of the black plate to a first color reproduced by only a combination of the chromatic color materials to reproduce a second color which is reproduced by adding the black plate to the first color, includes: calculating, based on a color profile of the color printing apparatus, a characteristic data representing characteristic changes of a brightness and a color saturation of a representative color caused by adding the black plate to the representative color, wherein the representative color is reproduced by only any one of the chromatic color materials or a combination of the chromatic color materials; and calculating the color control value based on the characteristic data.
US08335019B2
In order to accelerate the processing speed using existing hardware or program, MFP sets a reference lattice point in the device space of a printer (S05), calculates the difference between first color data and the reference lattice point (S06), sets the dimension having the largest difference of the differences of dimensions not set as process targets, as a process target dimension (S10), sets the lattice point having the process target dimension as a second process target lattice point (S11), calculates a base term based on the difference of the process target dimension, the first process target lattice point, and the second process target lattice point (S18), calculates a total sum vector (S19), resets the second process target lattice point as a first process target lattice point every time the base term is calculated (S20), calculates a second reference vector using an existing triangular pyramid interpolation expression when the number of dimensions not set as process target dimensions become three (S14), and determines second color data from the total sum vector and the second reference vector.
US08335018B2
An image forming apparatus includes a storage unit configured to store a divisor matrix including at least two kinds of divisor values, and a changing unit configured to change M (M>N) gradation image data into N (N>3) gradation image data, wherein the changing unit is configured to divide a pixel value of a target pixel of the M gradation image data by a divisor value corresponding to a pixel position of the target pixel to change the M gradation image data into the N-gradation image data.
US08335013B2
The subject application is directed to a system and method for color printer calibration employing measurement success feedback. Color input data is received corresponding to a color printout from an associated color measurement device, the color input data including M×N discrete color areas corresponding to M rows and N columns on the printout, with M and N representing integers greater than 2. A display including a color image comprised of each of the areas arranged in M rows and N columns is then generated on a display device. Color input data is tested to determine successful measurement of colors corresponding to the color areas and a row-based indicator is generated for a successful measurement of color areas within a row. Calibration data is received of a comparison of the color printout to the display and an associated color printer is calibrated based upon the calibration data.
US08335003B2
It is determined whether or not a change request for changing an array of a plurality of items of job information on a job list screen to a second array being different from a first array is inputted via a user interface. If it is determined that the change request is inputted, a job list screen is displayed in which the array of the plurality of items of job information is changed to the second array. Display contents of the user interface are changed in response to a user operation with respect to a print job displayed on the job list screen. If the change request is inputted prior to the user operation, the job list screen in the second array is redisplayed upon the conclusion of processing due to the user operation. If the change request is not inputted prior to the user operation, the job list screen in the first array is redisplayed.
US08335001B2
A peripheral device includes a connection portion which is connectable to an information processing device and a storage medium. The connection portion is configured to allow data transfer between the storage medium and the information processing device. The peripheral device further includes a function execution portion that performs a function according to data transferred from the information processing device. The peripheral device still further includes a detection portion that detects a state of the data transfer between the function execution portion and the information processing device. Moreover, the peripheral device includes a notification portion that notifies the information processing device that the storage medium is not connected to the connection portion, irrespective of whether the connection state of the storage medium to the connection portion is connected or not, when the detection portion detects a start of the data transfer between the function execution portion and the information processing device.
US08334999B2
A method and system for augmenting an imaging device with non-native job settings without unduly complicating the processing of imaging jobs that utilize only native job settings is disclosed. In one aspect, an imaging device comprises a processor, a user interface communicatively coupled with the processor and a network interface communicatively coupled with the processor, wherein under control of the processor in response to job settings selected on the user interface for an imaging job the imaging device selectively invokes via the network interface an external process to process the imaging job per at least one selected job setting based on a determination of whether at least one selected job setting is non-native to the imaging device.
US08334996B2
A method for adding a user's e-mail address to the address book of a networked document output device includes receiving an electronic message from a user, automatically extracting the sender's electronic address, and automatically adding the electronic address to an address book used by the document output device. A networked document output device includes memory for storing document data, means for sending document to users on a network, means for receiving electronic communications from a networked user, and a controller for practicing a method that includes extracting an electronic address from a received e-mail, and adding the user's address to a local address book.
US08334992B2
An image formation apparatus including: a state indicator which informs of a current system state to an outside; a system state manager which manages the system state; and an alert controller which controls the state indicator according to the system state identified by the system state manager, wherein if the system state manager identifies that the system state is in a power off inhibition state, the alert controller causes the state indicator to inform a user of the power off inhibition state.
US08334989B2
A computer-implemented printing device for converting a drawing command acquired from a computer into an intermediate language by parallel processing. The printing device includes: an intermediate language code generation unit that acquires a drawing command and printing data written in a page description language and converts it into an intermediate language code; an intermediate language processing unit that processes the intermediate language code generated by the intermediate language code generation unit to generate raster data; and a printing mechanism that performs printing processing based on the raster data generated by the intermediate language processing unit. A computer-implemented control device, control method, and program product is provided for executing the functions performed by the units of the printing device.
US08334983B2
A lithographic apparatus is provided with an optical encoder measurement system having an irradiation system to direct an irradiation beam to a first scale. The system has optics to direct a primary diffracted beam diffracted from the first scale upon irradiation by the irradiation beam to a second scale and a detector to detect a secondary diffracted beam after interference and a second diffraction of the primary diffracted irradiation beam on the second scale to measure the position of the first scale with respect to the second scale.
US08334979B2
A method and/or an apparatus for controlling the register between print and three-dimensional structures, such as creases in the forming of a package, and a method and/or the apparatus for controlling a unit for repeated cutting-out or perforation of a material web from which the packages are formed. In the control, a focused, high intensive light beam, such as a laser line, is laid in a bisecting direction to relevant creases. The position of the crease or the creases is determined by sensing of a deflection of the projected laser line. Diffuse light from the laser line may be used in order to register the position of a register marking. If the difference between the register marking and crease differs more than a predetermined value, the creasing tool and/or printing press is automatically adjusted.
US08334977B2
In an evaluation device an analyzer is rotated so that the azimuth of the transmission axis of the analyzer has an inclination angle of 90 degrees±3 degrees with respect to the transmission axis of a polarizer. An imaging camera captures a regularly reflected image of a wafer under each condition, and an image processing unit evaluates the shape of a repeating pattern and detects dose defects and focus defects on the basis of the two images of the wafer captured by the imaging camera.
US08334970B2
A conveying device for conveying eggs comprises an endless conveyor provided with rollers extending transversely to the direction of conveyance. The rollers are arranged in pairs, and each pair of rollers forms an receiving space, in which an egg is accommodated in such a way that the egg rests on both rollers. The conveying device furthermore comprises a transfer device provided with a plurality of pick-up elements for picking up the eggs from a tray and placing the eggs on the conveyor. The pick-up elements on the transfer device can be moved from a first position in which they are positioned at a distance from each other corresponding to the distance between the individual eggs on the tray, viewed in the direction of conveyance, and a second position corresponding to the centre-to-centre distance between two receiving spaces. In use, the rollers are set in rotation, with the result that an egg resting on them is set in rotation, which is advantageous if the eggs on the conveyor have to be inspected for cracks. In this case by means of a plurality of lasers disposed in a stationary position one after the other a laser beam is directed at the egg during movement of the egg, and the light transmission of the egg surface is observed by optical observation means. Data processing means are equipped to decide on the basis of the observed light transmission whether or not an egg has a crack.
US08334960B2
A liquid crystal display according to an exemplary embodiment of the present invention includes a substrate, a plurality of pixels arranged in a matrix on the substrate where each pixel includes a switching element, a plurality of gate lines that are connected to the switching elements and extend in a row direction, and a gate driver that is connected to the gate lines and is formed on the substrate as an integrated circuit. In the liquid crystal display, the gate driver includes a first region and a second region that is not aligned with the first region.
US08334959B2
An electro-optical device having a display region in which a plurality of pixels are arranged in a matrix includes: switching elements each corresponding to one the plurality of pixels; a first sealed wiring portion that is formed on an element substrate so as to surround at least three sides of the display region; and a second sealed wiring portion that surrounds the first sealed wiring portion.
US08334956B2
A liquid crystal device includes: a first substrate; a second substrate; a liquid crystal layer sandwiched between the first substrate and the second substrate; a first electrode and a second electrode disposed on a side of the first substrate facing the liquid crystal layer; and a color filter and an electrostatic shielding layer disposed on a side of the second substrate facing the liquid crystal layer, the color filter including coloring layers of at least three different colors, the electrostatic shielding layer having an aperture formed therein corresponding to the coloring layer of at least one of the three different colors.
US08334954B2
Each pixel region includes first, second, third and fourth liquid crystal domains that come to have first, second, third and fourth predetermined tilt directions, respectively, in response to a voltage applied. The first, second, third and fourth directions are defined such that an angle formed between any two of the four directions is approximately equal to an integral multiple of 90 degrees. The first, second, third and fourth liquid crystal domains are arranged in two columns and two rows so as to define a matrix pattern and to be adjacent to each other. An extended portion of a storage capacitor line defines at least a part of a central opaque portion that selectively shields at least a part of a boundary area, where each of the first, second, third and fourth liquid crystal domains contacts with another one of the liquid crystal domains, from incoming light. A contact hole has been cut through an insulating layer, where there is a contact portion between a drain extension line and a first electrode, and is located in a part of the central opaque portion that is closer to the liquid crystal layer.
US08334948B2
A backlight assembly includes; a plurality of light guide blocks disposed substantially in parallel with each other along a first direction, each of the plurality of light guide blocks including; a light guide plate (“LGP”) having a wedge-shape decreasing in thickness from a first side thereof to a second side thereof, and a light source unit disposed facing a side surface of the LGP, and a light source driving unit which individually controls the light source units of the plurality of light guide blocks to emit light via a local dimming method.
US08334947B2
Provided are a backlight assembly and a display device having the same. The backlight assembly comprises an elongated first high voltage lamp extending in a first direction and having respective first and second ends. A second similar lamp is provided so as to be separated at its ends from the corresponding first and second ends of the first lamp by a first gap distance (d1) and to extend substantially, but not fully parallel to the first lamp. An intermediated gap fixing part is provided for fixing at an intermediate position along the lengths of the first and second lamps a second separation gap distance (d2) that is smaller than the first gap distance. As a result of the positioning of the smaller second gap, if it happens at all; electrical interaction noise and/or corona discharge between the high voltage lamps is encouraged to occur at the position of this smaller second gap distance (d2) rather than at the terminal ends of the lamps whereat the lamps couple via power conductors to other parts of the display system.
US08334942B2
A backlight device and a liquid crystal display are provided. A liquid crystal display apparatus including a direct backlight device which has an LED assembled into a light-guiding plate and in which an brightness uniformity is controlled or improved is provided by controlling or improving the brightness uniformity.A backlight device 10 includes a light emitting diode 21 as a light source assembled into a light-guiding plate 30, in which an edge portion 32 on the bottom surface 30B side of a concave portion 31 in a light-guiding plate 30, where the light emitting diode 21 is assembled, is formed at to have the shape of an inclined or curved surface that has an angle except a right angle with respect to the bottom surface 30B.
US08334940B2
A display panel including a first substrate, scan lines, data lines, sub-pixel units, a light-shielding layer, a second substrate, and a display medium is provided. Each of the sub-pixel units includes a main display unit and a sub-display unit. The main display unit includes a first switch and a first pixel electrode, wherein the first pixel electrode and the data lines adjacent thereto are separated from each other with a gap (G1). The sub-display unit includes a second switch and a second pixel electrode, wherein the second and the data lines adjacent thereto are overlapped with a first overlapping width (W1). The light-shielding layer is disposed between two adjacent first pixel electrodes such that the light-shielding layer and one of the first pixel electrodes adjacent thereto are overlapped with a second overlapping width (W2). Additionally, the display medium is display between the first substrate and the second substrate.
US08334938B2
Provided is a phase plate having high phase compensation effect with low manufacturing cost, which is a device including a substrate and a thin film including laminated thin films of two or more types having different refractive indexes. The device performs phase compensation for an oblique incident polarized light ray, by using interference due to a high refractive index thin film and a low refractive index thin film.
US08334935B2
A high resolution projection system has a light source for generating and emitting light and a plurality of digital micromirror device imagers configured to receive and reflect the light.
US08334933B2
A television operation method whereby a desired content screen can be shown on a TV receiver by controlling operation on the display of a remote terminal. When the TV display of the TV receiver shows a received program screen and the remote display of the remote terminal shows another received program screen, if the screen shown on the remote display is transferred to the TV display, a reception remote control screen to enable channel selection appears on the remote display. If buttons are operated so as to show a related web screen on the remote display and transfer the related web screen to the TV display, a web remote control screen for control of a cursor on the related web screen appears on the remote display.
US08334932B2
An image processing device includes a target correction amount calculating unit operable to calculate a target correction amount based on input image signals, a frame memory operable to store the input image signals, and a scene change amount calculating unit operable to calculate a scene change amount based on an input image signal of a present frame and an input image signal of a previous frame. Moreover, the image processing device includes a correction amount calculating unit operable to calculate a correction amount for the input image signal of the present frame, based on the target correction amount and the scene change amount, and a correcting unit operable to perform image quality correction to the input image signal of the present frame to generate a corrected input image signal, thereby outputting a corrected input image signal as an output image signal.
US08334930B2
An image display apparatus and a method of compensating for white balance are disclosed. The method of compensating for white balance of an image display apparatus includes reading a picture status mode (PSM) set in the image display apparatus, measuring the light amounts of RGB color signals from an external light source of the image display apparatus and detecting a color temperature of the external light source, calculating a difference between the detected color temperature of the external light source and a color temperature of the white balance of the set PSM, performing white balance gain compensation for correcting the color temperature of an input image according to the PSM using the calculated difference between the color temperatures, and displaying an image of which the white balance gain is compensated for. Accordingly, it is possible to correct a difference between color temperatures according to a PSM of an input image and an external light source in TV viewing conditions of various environments and maintain sharp white balance of an output image.
US08334929B2
A signal processing apparatus, comprising: an input section; a storage section; first and second signal processing sections; and a control section.
US08334928B2
An automatic OSD adjusting device and the associated method are provided. The device includes a receiving unit, a processing unit, an OSD unit and an OSD adjusting module. The receiving unit receives a video signal. The processing unit is coupled to the receiving unit and processes the video signal to generate a pixel signal. The OSD unit generates an OSD signal. The OSD adjusting module, coupled to the processing unit and the OSD unit, compares the OSD signal with the pixel signal to generate a comparison result, and selectively adjusts the OSD signal according to the comparison result.
US08334927B2
A television includes a control section, an interface and an external software module. The control section includes a processor and an internal memory that is in communication with the processor. The internal memory stores original program instructions for use by the processor to operate the television in accordance with the original program instructions. The interface is accessible exteriorly of the television and is in communication with the control section. The external software module is connectable to the interface and stores additional application program instructions that are downloadable to the control section when the external software module is connected to the interface. The downloaded additional application program instructions enable the television to function in a manner differently than any of the original program instructions. A method for adding new application program instructions to a television is also described.
US08334925B2
A method and an apparatus for processing images are disclosed. The method includes: generating an image histogram of an image to be processed; judging whether the image to be processed requires backlight compensation according to the image histogram; if the image to be processed requires backlight compensation, determining a first luminance boundary value A used for deciding whether to perform backlight compensation and a second luminance boundary value C used for deciding whether to perform positive or negative backlight compensation; and performing backlight compensation for the image to be processed according to the first luminance boundary value A and the second luminance boundary value C. The method is simple and universally applicable. After backlight compensation, the contrast of the image is high, and the image is free from background overexposure and image layering. The image photographed in a backlight environment is processed properly.
US08334923B2
A digital camera has an optical system, an image capturing unit, an aperture adjuster, a focal point adjuster, and a body microcomputer. The aperture adjuster has an aperture included in the optical system and is capable of adjusting the state of the aperture. The focal point adjuster has a focus lens included in the optical system and is capable adjusting the focal state of the optical system by using the focus lens by contrast detection method. The body microcomputer controls the operation of the aperture adjuster so that the aperture value of the optical system will be at or below a set aperture value before the focal state is adjusted by the focal point adjuster.
US08334918B2
A solid-state image pickup device 1 includes: a plurality of photoelectric converters 2 which are aligned in a predetermined direction and have a potential made higher toward one side of a direction crossing the predetermined direction; a transferring section 6 which is provided on one side of the photoelectric converters 2 in the direction crossing the predetermined direction and transfers charges generated in the photoelectric converters 2 in the predetermined direction; an unnecessary charge discharging drain 7 which is provided adjacent to the photoelectric converter 2 along the direction crossing the predetermined direction and discharges unnecessary charges generated in the photoelectric converter 2 from the photoelectric converter 2; and an unnecessary charge discharging gate 8 which is provided between the photoelectric converter 2 and the unnecessary charge discharging drain 7 and selectively performs cutting-off and release of the flow of unnecessary charges from the photoelectric converter 2 to the unnecessary charge discharging drain 7.
US08334911B2
Techniques are provided to encode and decode image data comprising a tone mapped (TM) image with HDR reconstruction data in the form of luminance ratios and color residual values. In an example embodiment, luminance ratio values and residual values in color channels of a color space are generated on an individual pixel basis based on a high dynamic range (HDR) image and a derivative tone-mapped (TM) image that comprises one or more color alterations that would not be recoverable from the TM image with a luminance ratio image. The TM image with HDR reconstruction data derived from the luminance ratio values and the color-channel residual values may be outputted in an image file to a downstream device, for example, for decoding, rendering, and/or storing. The image file may be decoded to generate a restored HDR image free of the color alterations.
US08334908B2
The present invention provides a method and system for high dynamic range image measurement which is configured to control the light intensity distribution through an optical modulating switch for adjusting the intensity of the light passing therethrough so as to control the light intensity distribution of the light projecting on an object or of the object light being sensed by a photo detector for preventing the optical sensing signals of the photo detector from over-saturating. After that, the optical sensing signals are compensated according to the optical intensity distribution modulated by the optical modulating switch so as to obtain an image data with high dynamic range.
US08334904B2
A vehicle surroundings monitoring system includes: an image pick-up device (10) that picks up an image of an area on the passenger side of a vehicle (200); a display device (30) that displays the image of the area on the passenger side of the vehicle, which is picked up by the image pick-up device; a foot illuminating device (40) that illuminates the ground outside the vehicle on the passenger side, —and a foot illumination controller (50) that controls the foot illuminating device, wherein when the image of the area on the passenger side of the vehicle, which is picked up by the image pick-up device, is being displayed on the display device, the foot illumination controller turns off the foot illuminating device.
US08334899B1
A protective laser beam viewing system or device including a camera selectively sensitive to laser light wavelengths and a viewing screen receiving images from the laser sensitive camera. According to a preferred embodiment of the invention, the camera is worn on the head of the user or incorporated into a goggle-type viewing display so that it is always aimed at the area of viewing interest to the user and the viewing screen is incorporated into a video display worn as goggles over the eyes of the user.
US08334866B2
Disclosed are various embodiments of methods, systems, devices and components for reducing power consumption in an LCD display that is backlit by LEDs. The various embodiments typically require the use of an array of backlighting LEDs disposed beneath and configured to emit light in the direction of an overlying LCD or LCD panel. In such an array, some LEDs are operated or driven at a first brightness, while other LEDs are operated or driven at a second brightness that is different from the first brightness, or at no brightness at all (i.e., such LEDs are turned off). LED brightnesses and therefore backlighting brightnesses over different portions of display or screen are varied and determined in accordance with the portion of display or screen that a user or processor has selected for viewing (“the area of interest”).
US08334864B2
Disclosed herein is a display apparatus, including, a pixel array section including a plurality of pixels disposed in rows and columns, and a number of power supply lines and scanning lines equal to the number of the rows of the pixels, each of the power supply lines being wired commonly to those of the pixels which are juxtaposed in a direction of a row.
US08334859B2
An electroluminescent (EL) display device has pixels spatially arranged in a matrix, each pixel having first, second, third and fourth EL elements, gate lines each coupled to a respective row of pixels, first data lines each coupled to the first EL elements of a respective column of pixels, second data lines each coupled to the second EL elements of a respective column of pixels, first switches each coupled to a respective third EL element, second switches each coupled to a respective fourth EL element, a switch control line coupled to the first and second switches for providing a switching control signal to set the first and second switches to be in an ON state or an OFF state, and third data lines each coupled to the first and second switches corresponding to a respective column of pixels for transmitting a data signal.
US08334857B1
A method and system are implemented to dynamically control a display refresh rate. Specifically, one embodiment of the present invention sets forth a method, which comprises the steps of driving a display device at a first refresh rate over a period of time, measuring a number of first content frames with changes in content out of a plurality of content frames that are generated over the period of time for the display device, and driving the display device at a second refresh rate if the number of the first content frames meets a first condition associated with a first threshold reference, and optionally driving the display device at a third refresh rate if the number of first content frames meets a second condition associated with a second threshold reference.
US08334844B2
Provided is a convenient mouse device having low power consumption. The mouse device has a configuration in which an optical sensor for light shielding detection is provided in a region where a hand blocks light when the hand handles the mouse device so that the mouse device may perform a normal operation when the optical sensor for light shielding detection is shielded from light, and may perform a low consumption operation when the optical sensor for light shielding detection is not shielded from light.
US08334841B2
A virtual user interface (VUI) is provided. The VUI (120) can include a touchless sensing unit (110) for identifying and tracking at least one object in a touchless sensory field, a processor (130) communicatively coupled to the sensing unit for capturing a movement of the object within the touchless sensory field, and a driver (132) for converting the movement to a coordinate object (133). In one aspect, the VUI can implement an applications program interface (134) for receiving the coordinate object and providing the coordinate object to the virtual user interface (VUI). An object movement within the sensory field of the VUI can activate user components in a User Interface (150).
US08334840B2
An interface system and a method for manipulating a display are disclosed. The interface system includes a display having a scroll area and a cursor presented thereon, a controller for manipulating a position of the cursor on the display, and a haptic device for generating a plurality of tactile feedbacks to a user through the controller, wherein a movement of the cursor across a peripheral edge of the scroll area of the display results in the haptic device generating a first tactile feedback of the plurality of tactile feedbacks representing a scroll mode, and wherein a movement of the cursor while the cursor is positioned within the scroll area of the display results in the haptic device generating a second tactile feedback of the plurality of tactile feedbacks representing a scroll rate of a visual feedback presented on the display.
US08334833B2
A display apparatus, includes: a display unit which displays a video; a light source unit having a plurality of light sources which are independently driven, and which illuminate the display unit; and a driving unit which drives the light source unit. The driving unit includes: a driving signal generating unit which generates a driving signal which has a first voltage level and a second voltage level so that the plurality of light sources can be independently driven, and a control unit which blocks or applies the driving signal to drive the light source unit based on a voltage level which is applied to the light source unit if the driving signal which is generated by the driving signal generating unit is the first voltage level.
US08334831B1
An array substrate and a liquid crystal display (LCD) device having the array substrate are provided. The array substrate may include a pixel electrode, a coupling electrode and an opposite electrode. The pixel electrode may include a first sub-electrode having first electrode bars receiving a first voltage and a second sub-electrode having second electrode bars. The first electrode bars and the second electrode bars may be spaced apart from each other. The coupling electrode may be electrically connected to a portion of the first electrode bars, may have a opposite electrode bars and may overlap a portion of the second electrode bars to form coupling capacitor. The opposite electrode may be disposed between the first electrode bars and the second electrode bars to receive a second voltage different from the first voltage.
US08334824B2
An organic light emitting display having a DC-DC converter with freewheel diodes replaced by switches integrated into a switching controller. This way, power consumption is reduced by truly shutting down a current path when the DC-DC converter does not operate, and the size and weight of the DC-DC converter may be reduced. One embodiment of the DC-DC converter has a boost converter with a first switch coupled to a power supplier and a second switch, functioning as a freewheel diode, coupled to an organic light emitting display panel, and an inverter with a third switch coupled to the power supplier and a fourth switch, functioning as a freewheel diode, coupled to the organic light emitting display panel. A switching controller is coupled to the boost converter and the inverter. The second and fourth switches, which function as the freewheel diodes, are integrated into the switching controller.
US08334817B2
An image display system includes a data processing device and an image display device. The data processing device includes a display item detection unit that detects display items running on a display screen, a display/non-display selection unit that selects whether or not to display the display items detected by the display item detection unit on the image display device. The image display device includes a display image data forming unit that forms display image data on the basis of the image data of the display items selected by the display/non-display selection unit to be displayed on the image display device among the image data received by a receiving unit, and an image display unit that displays an image on the basis of the display image data formed by the display image data forming unit.
US08334815B2
The present invention provides an improved single antenna system that allows reception of RF energy at multiple frequencies. In one embodiment, the antenna is implemented as a multi-beam, multi-feed antenna having a primary reflector fitted with a dual mode feed tube and a switchable LNB that supports both Ka band and Ku band reception. In another embodiment, the antenna is implemented as a multi-beam, multi-feed antenna having a primary reflector fitted with a feed horn and a LNB that is capable of providing movement such that the feed horn with the LNB is at a focal point with the primary reflector for both Ka and Ku band reception. In another embodiment, the antennae is implemented as a multi-beam, multi-feed antenna having a primary reflected fitted with a feed horn assembly and a switchable LNB that supports both Ka band and Ku band reception.
US08334806B2
Methods and apparatuses are provided which may be used in mobile stations to perform or otherwise support location services. Signals representing existing SPS-related information associated with the mobile station can be stored during a MS-based or a standalone GNSS tracking session. In response to a request for an MS-assisted location session, the existing SPS-related information can be compared to a threshold. Signals representing the requested SPS-related information can be generated based on the existing SPS-related information and stored in memory.
US08334801B2
A locating system, includes at least one initiator configured to operate at a first clock frequency, and to transmit a measurement signal including a first preamble; and at least one transponder configured to operate at a second clock frequency, to receive the measurement signal, and to transmit a response signal to the initiator, the response signal including a second preamble. The initiator is further configured to calculate, based on the response signal, a distance between the initiator and the transponder for determining a location of the transponder.
US08334799B2
Detecting and grading the state and evolution of wake turbulence caused by an aircraft is made on the basis of radar signals reflected by this turbulence, these signals being analyzed through analysis cells of given dimension in terms of distance and bearing. A first preliminary detection step detects and locates turbulence in a cell. A second step determines the strength of the detected turbulence, while a third step determines the age of the detected turbulence as well as the geometric parameters which characterize it. This method makes it possible to detect wake turbulence and to determine at one and the same time the position and the strength of the latter as well as its stage of evolution.
US08334786B2
Apparatus for the wireless transmission of data, and preferably also of power, across a space between a length of production tubing and a surrounding casing in a petrochemical well, includes a pair of inductively-coupled coils, a first of which is located on the exterior of the production tubing generally coaxially therewith, and the second of which is located on the interior of the casing generally coaxially therewith. This may be used in particular as part of a system for transmitting power and data to/from a sensor monitoring the pressure and/or other environmental conditions within the “B” annulus B of a sub-sea well.
US08334771B2
Slaves are respectively provided corresponding to electric devices, measure, in real time, power usage states and disposed positions of the electric devices to transmit to a master. The master detects operational states of electric devices on operation based on power usage states received from the slaves, and detects a positional relation between electric devices on operation based on disposed positions of the electric devices. Then, the master estimates the number of residents in the house by determining achievability of operational states of electric devices based on the detected operational states and positional relation of electric devices.
US08334761B2
A multi sensor detection and disabling lock system includes detector cases for holding interchangeable detectors that sample for chemical, biological and radiological compounds, agents and elements, with each detector case disposed in or upon the monitored product whereupon light alarm indicators (color coded) on the detector case light up when a specific compound or agent is detected whereupon the detector case transmits detection information to a monitoring computer terminal and transmits a signal to a lock disabler engaged to the product to lock or disable the product's lock thereby preventing untrained, unauthorized and unequipped individual's from gaining access and entry to the product, and also preventing further contamination of the area. An authorized individual resets the detection system, and the system's power source is electrical, battery or computer generated. In addition, the detection system can be interconnected to surveillance towers scanning detector cases disposed at seaport docks, freight depots and rail terminals for monitoring containers being prepared for shipment or sitting on docks for long periods of time.
US08334758B2
A local interconnect network BUS remote control system, including a printed circuit board antenna for receiving wireless communications signals and transmitting them to at least one radio frequency module, the printed circuit board antenna including a digital layer; a power layer; a ground layer; a radio frequency layer; at least one radio frequency module mounted on the vehicle, the at least one frequency module in communication with the printed circuit board antenna for demodulating the wireless communication signals into local interconnect network signals; a local interconnect network BUS in communication with the at least one frequency module for receiving the local interconnect network signals; and a local interconnect network controller in communication with the local interconnect network BUS for receiving the local interconnect network signals.
US08334756B2
A radio frequency identification (RFID) device includes: a first amplifier configured to amplify a level of a first radio signal applied through a first antenna, and output an amplified signal; a second amplifier configured to amplify the amplified signal to a predetermined level, and output a power signal; a demodulator configured to demodulate the amplified signal and generate a command signal; a transmission switch configured to selectively output the power signal according to a response signal corresponding to the command signal; and a modulator configured to output a second radio signal, which is generated by modulating the power signal, to a second antenna.
US08334748B2
A method for manufacturing a ceramic electronic component includes the steps of preparing a ceramic body including a plurality of first internal electrodes and a plurality of second internal electrodes, processing the ceramic body to an internal electrode exposure rate of about 102% to about 153%, and plating the processed ceramic body to form a plated layer thereon.
US08334747B2
A coil-integrated switching power supply module that provides an improved heat radiation effect to keep the temperature of the entire coil-integrated switching power supply module to a lower value includes a thermal diffusion conductor pattern arranged around a hole through which a magnetic core extends on a layer. The thermal diffusion conductor pattern continuously extends in areas where coil conductor patterns are located on other layers and outside areas where the coil conductor patterns are located on the other layers. In addition, the thermal diffusion conductor pattern includes slits at portions thereof and does not define a closed loop around the hole through which the magnetic core extends.
US08334746B2
In an electronic component, a multilayer body includes a plurality of insulator layers stacked on top of one another. A first coil is provided in the multilayer body, includes a first coil axis and extends toward the positive side in the z-axis direction while circling counterclockwise around the first coil axis. A second coil is connected to the first coil, is provided in the multilayer body, includes a second coil axis, and extends toward the negative side in the z-axis direction while circling counterclockwise around the second coil axis. When viewed in plan from the z-axis direction, the first coil axis is disposed inside the second coil and the second coil axis is disposed inside the first coil.
US08334744B1
A tether system for an underwater vehicle, including: a drum including a substantially cylindrical spooling segment, the spooling segment including: an axially aligned first portion with an outer circumference including a first opening; and a second portion at an axial end of the first portion and including a second opening. The system also includes a tether cable connected to the storage drum. The first and second openings form a portion of a passage from an exterior of the drum through the first portion to the outer circumference of the first portion. A tether cable for an underwater vehicle, including: a core including conductive wire or optical fiber and a buoyant jacket surrounding the core of conductive material. The buoyant jacket includes a plurality of first portions with a first outside diameter and a plurality of second portions having respective second outside diameters less than the first outside diameter.
US08334740B2
A contactor assembly includes a stationary contact, an arc contact, an arc arrestor, and a magnetic intensifier. The magnetic intensifier is constructed to be secured in generally close proximity to the stationary contact. During communication of power through the contactor assembly, the magnetic intensifier accentuates a magnetic field associated with the stationary contact and increases the magnitude of a magnetic force directed to the arc arrestor. A pair of arc guides extend along the magnetic intensifier and, cooperatively with the magnetic force, ensure efficient, repeatable, and expedient transfer of a circuit termination arc to the arc arrestor. Such a construction increases the operable range and lifecycle of the contactor by reducing the damage associated with propagation of the circuit termination arc.
US08334736B2
The invention relates to design of micromechanical resonators and, more precisely, to the design of microelectromechanical systems (MEMS) resonators. The invention provides an improved design structure for a microelectromechanical systems (MEMS) resonator including a movable mass structure and a spring structure. The spring structure includes a spring element. The spring element is anchored from one end and connected to a plurality of electrode fingers on another end. The plurality of electrode fingers are operatively connected together at the other end of the spring element. The improved structure is frequency robust to manufacturing variations and enables reliable frequency referencing with good performance, particularly in small size solutions.
US08334735B2
A multilayer electronic component and a multilayer electronic component manufacturing method are capable of easily controlling the degree of magnetic field coupling between inductors. Via-hole conductors are arranged so that they extend in a lamination direction in a laminate, and function as a first inductor. Via-hole conductors are arranged so that they extend in the lamination direction in the laminate, and function as a second inductor. A first capacitor and the first inductor define a first resonance circuit. A second capacitor and the second inductor define a second resonance circuit. The via-hole conductors are arranged in a first insulating layer so that they are spaced apart from each other by a first distance. The via-hole conductors are arranged in a second insulating layer so that they are spaced apart from each other by a second distance that is different from the first distance.
US08334729B1
An antenna tuner has a plurality of switch-capacitor branches made up of a micro-electromechanical systems (MEMS) switch in series with a capacitor such that a branch node is formed between the MEMS switch and the capacitor. A plurality of electronic switches is included wherein the branch node of each of the plurality of switch-capacitor branches is coupled to at least one other branch node of the plurality of switch-capacitor branches with a corresponding one of the plurality of electronic switches. A hot switching sequencing method uses a closed one of the plurality MEMS switch along with one or more of the plurality of electronic switches to reduce the voltage potential across another one of the plurality of MEMS switches that is about to undergo a change of state such as from open to closed or vice versa.
US08334720B2
An electronic apparatus for providing supply voltage to a first external device with a predetermined pin assignment specification is provided. The electronic apparatus includes a connection interface and a voltage supplier. The connection interface includes a first pin and a second pin. The voltage supplier provides a detection voltage signal to the first pin and determines whether to provide the supply voltage according to whether the second pin is at a first level in response to the detection voltage signal. When the second pin is at the first level in response to the detection voltage signal, the voltage supplier provides the supply voltage to the first pin.
US08334717B2
A comparison system including a dynamic comparator, a background offset calibration circuit, and an asynchronous reset timing control circuit is presented. The background offset calibration circuit is coupled to the dynamic comparator, and generates calibration signals in response to reference switching control signals. Where calibration signals are used to calibrate the input refer offset of the dynamic comparator. The asynchronous reset timing control circuit is coupled to the dynamic comparator and the background offset calibration circuit, and generates a control clock signal and the reference switching control signals in response to the output signals of the dynamic comparator and a plurality of basic clock signals. During each clock cycle of the first basic clock signal, the control clock signal is used to control the dynamic comparator to perform two data comparison, one for the input refer offset and the other for a differential input signal.
US08334714B2
Clock signal generators having a reduced power feedback clock path and methods for generating clocks
Memories, clock generators and methods for providing an output clock signal are disclosed. One such method includes delaying a buffered clock signal by a adjustable delay to provide an output clock signal, providing a feedback clock signal from the output clock signal, and adjusting a duty cycle of the buffered clock signal based at least in part on the feedback clock signal. An example clock generator includes a forward clock path configured to provide a delayed output clock signal from a clock driver circuit, and further includes a feedback clock path configured to provide a feedback clock signal based at least in part on the delayed output clock signal, for example, frequency dividing the delayed output clock signal. The feedback clock path further configured to control adjustment a duty cycle of the buffered input clock signal based at least in part on the feedback clock signal.
US08334708B1
Example driver circuits can utilize shared-charge recycling charge pump structures. In particular, an example shared-charge recycling process may be applied to a clock buffer and charge transfer cells of the charge pump in a driver circuit. An example recycling process may include recycling of shared charges between the capacitors/capacitances in the charge transfer cells. An example recycling process may use the charges in one or more capacitors to charge one or more other capacitors before the charges are wasted or otherwise discharged to ground. Such recycling may significantly reduce the power consumption of the charge pump while still providing a high output voltage level, according to an example embodiment of the invention.
US08334699B2
A battery internal short-circuit detection apparatus includes: a voltage detection unit for detecting a terminal voltage of the battery; a current detection unit for detecting a discharging current of the battery; a voltage drop and recovery detection unit for detecting a momentary voltage drop of the battery and a recovery from the voltage drop, in response to a result of detection performed by the voltage detection unit; and a determination unit for determining that an internal short circuit has occurred, when a maximum value of the discharging current detected by the current detection unit between the voltage drop and the recovery is equal to or lower than a threshold current.
US08334696B2
A method for producing an image of a subject with a magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) system is provided. In particular, spatial encoding of signals received from the subject is performed by spatial encoding magnetic fields (SEMs) produced by driving a parallel array of local gradient coils with current weightings that define a mode of the coil array. A set of globally orthogonal modes are determined using a singular value decomposition and two modes that produce SEMs with desired magnetic field variance characteristics are selected for spatial encoding. The spatially encoding signals are received by a parallel array of radio frequency receiver coil elements in order to resolve ambiguities in spatial encoding caused by the SEMs. Images are subsequently reconstructed using, for example, an iterative time domain reconstruction method.
US08334685B2
A signal detector and a signal detection method adapted for detecting a voltage signal are provided. According to a digital signal converted from a low voltage full wave or half wave signal and/or a mains AC signal inputted thereto, the signal detector and the signal detection method are capable of detecting a voltage level, and/or a frequency, and/or a zero point, and/or a phase of the low voltage full wave or half wave signal and/or the mains AC signal inputted thereto, and determining whether the detected factor is abnormal, and is further capable of outputting an interrupt signal for subsequent processing.
US08334683B2
A DC-DC voltage converter has a pair of switching transistors to provide an output voltage and are alternately switched in a boost mode of operation responsive to control signals. An inductor is connected to the pair of switching transistor and has an inductor current flowing there through. A current sensor monitors an input current and generates a current sense signal responsive thereto. Control circuitry generates the control signals to the second pair of switching transistors responsive to the current sense signal, the output voltage and a current limit signal, wherein when the current limit signal indicates the inductor current exceeds a current limit the control signals configure the pair of switching transistors to decrease the inductor current.
US08334674B2
A hybrid battery and its charging/discharging method automatically charges/discharges batteries having different capacities. The hybrid battery includes a plurality of rechargeable batteries; switching elements which are electrically connected to the plurality of rechargeable batteries having high current paths for electrically connecting to one of the high current paths; and a hybrid battery protection circuit electrically connected to the plurality of rechargeable batteries and driven by power supplied by one of the plurality of rechargeable batteries, the hybrid battery protection circuit charging/discharging the plurality of rechargeable batteries in sequence by transmitting an on/off signal to the switching element.
US08334672B2
A charging circuit used to identify a power source connected to a portable electronic device includes a connector, an identifying circuit, and a central processing unit. The connector includes a voltage bus contact, a ground contact, a positive data contact and a negative data contact. The identifying circuit is connected to the positive data contact or the negative data contact to identify the power source and generates a configuration signal. The central processing unit receives the configuration signal and operates a corresponding charging mode.
US08334668B2
A machine motion control system includes a number of moving parts for securing test electronic devices, a machine and an axis control card mounted on the machine. The machine includes a number of servo modules and a number of sensing units. The servo modules drive and control the corresponding moving parts on the machine. Each sensing unit is electrically connected to a corresponding moving part; the sensing units are operable to sense and transmit location information of the moving parts and the machine. The axis control card is electrically connected to the moving parts, the machine, and the sensing units. The axis control card receives location information of each moving part and processes the location information to generate a corresponding command signal, and transmits the generated command signal to the servo modules to control and adjust the moving parts.
US08334667B2
A permanent magnet rotating electrical machine capable of conducting a variable speed operation at high output in a wide range from low speed to high speed and improving efficiency and reliability in a wide operating range. Two kinds of permanent magnets having different shapes or different magnetic characteristics are embedded in a rotor core, to form a magnetic pole. The permanent magnets arranged at the magnetic pole include a permanent magnet whose product of coercive force and thickness along a magnetizing direction is small and a permanent magnet whose product of coercive force and thickness along the magnetizing direction is large. A magnetic field created by passing a current to an armature coil for a short time is used to irreversibly magnetize the permanent magnet whose product of coercive force and thickness along magnetizing direction is small, thereby changing a total linkage flux amount, and a positive d-axis current is passed when torque is large.
US08334662B2
An adaptive switch mode LED driver provides an intelligent approach to driving multiple strings of LEDs. The LED driver determines an optimal current level for each LED channel from a limited set of allowed currents. The LDO driver then determines a PWM duty cycle for driving the LEDs in each LED channel to provide precise brightness control over the LED channels. Beneficially, the LED driver minimizes the power dissipation in the LDO circuits driving each LED string, while also ensuring that the currents in each LED string are maintained within a limited range. A sample and hold LDO allows PWM control over extreme duty cycles with very fast dynamic response. Furthermore, fault protection circuitry ensures fault-free startup and operation of the LED driver.
US08334660B2
A driving circuit for regulating current in a light source using a tracking component. The tracking component detects the voltage difference between an input node in the input stage and an output node in the output stage. The input stage is connected to a current source and includes an input transistor. The output stage is connected to the light source and includes an output transistor. The tracking component generates an output that controls the input and output transistors based on the voltage difference between the input node and the output node so that the voltage at the input node tracks the voltage at the output node. By using the tracking component, the LED driver can achieve accurate current control through one output transistor instead of cascaded transistors, resulting in lower output operating voltage and reduced power dissipation of the LED driver. Further, the tracking component is intermittently operated or shared across different channels to reduce energy consumption of the LED driver.
US08334655B2
A lamp device and a light source module are provided. The lamp device includes a lamp body and a coil connecting tube. The lamp body has an end portion and a lead wire extends from the end portion. The coil connecting tube is disposed corresponding to the end portion of the lamp body and electrically connecting to the lead wire for power supply purpose. The coil connecting tube winds about an axial direction of the lamp body and is capable of stretching or compressing along the axial direction. The light source module includes the lamp device and a lamp connector which has a power source portion being coupled to the coil connecting tube for power supply.
US08334653B2
A display apparatus includes a plasma display panel (PDP) and a filter. The PDP has a display surface, and the filter has a panel side facing the display surface of the PDP and an opposing viewer side facing away from the display surface. The filter includes a base unit. The filter also includes pattern units that absorb external light from the viewer side. The pattern units have boundaries that define widths of pattern tops and widths of pattern bottoms. A distance between a pattern top and a pattern bottom defines a pattern height. A distance between adjacent boundaries, of a pair of adjacent pattern units, at adjacent pattern bottoms can be less than a distance between the adjacent boundaries at adjacent pattern tops, less than the pattern height, and greater than a width of at least one of the pattern bottoms.
US08334649B2
An evaporation mask, a method of manufacturing an organic electroluminescent device using the evaporation mask, and an organic electroluminescent device manufactured by the method are provided. The evaporation mask is formed of a thin film and is drawn taut by application of tension. The evaporation mask includes at least one mask unit, the mask unit including a plurality of main apertures, and a plurality of first dummy apertures formed adjacent to outermost ones of the main apertures in a direction in which tension is applied to the evaporation mask.
US08334646B2
A wavelength-converting plate for a wavelength-converted light emitting diode (LED) assembly. The wavelength-converting plate includes multiple layers of microlenses deposited thereon. The microlenses may have an index of refraction different from an index of refraction of the wavelength-converting plate.
US08334644B2
Solid state light emitting devices and/or solid state lighting devices use three or more phosphors excited by energy from a solid state source. The phosphors are selected and included in proportions such that the visible light output of such a device exhibits a radiation spectrum that approximates a black body radiation spectrum for the rated color temperature for the device, over at least a predetermined portion of the visible light spectrum.
US08334642B2
A spark plug may include a first electrode, an insulator positioned radially outside the first electrode, and a housing positioned radially outside the insulator. The spark plug may also include a second electrode electrically coupled to the housing. The second electrode may form a spark gap with the first electrode. The spark plug may further include an ignition electrode coupled to at least one of the first electrode and the second electrode. The ignition electrode may include fibers of Nb—Ti within a matrix material.
US08334636B2
The invention relates to a coupling unit (24) for transmitting high-frequency mechanical vibrations from a vibration generator (12) onto a tool (34). Said coupling unit comprises in input part (22) and an output part (30) that are interconnected via two identical vibration bars (26, 28), said bars being off-set from each other. The bars may have the shape of quadrants to provide the output movement in a direction that forms an angle of 90° with the direction of the input movement.
US08334627B2
In a compact motor 1 comprising a cylindrical permanent magnet 13, which is affixed to the inner surface of a hollow cylindrical yoke 12, and an armature core 22, which is provided at the interior of the permanent magnet 13, the armature core 22 comprises three slots 29 disposed at a uniform pitch, the permanent magnet 13 is bipolar-magnetized, and each magnetic pole has a maximum magnetic flux density value P in a range of 40° to 50° from the center at both sides of the magnetic pole, the maximum value P being within the range of 1.3 times to 1.8 times the magnetic flux density at the center of the magnetic pole.
US08334619B2
An object is to achieve a radio power transmitting system capable of adaptively controlling power transmission efficiency, and the following means for achieving it is proposed. The power transmitting system includes a receiver having a loaded antenna and a transmitter whose transmitting frequency is variable, and it controls power transmission efficiency by using a modulated electromagnetic wave reflected from the receiver. A capacitive element and an inductive element are formed in the antenna, the transmitting frequency of the transmitter is set to be variable, the electromagnetic wave transmitted from the transmitter and reflected by the receiver is modulated, and the power transmission efficiency between the transmitter and the receiver is controlled by using the modulated reflection wave.
US08334618B2
An area electric power system includes a number of direct current power sources, and a number of inverters operatively associated with the number of direct current power sources. Each of the number of inverters is structured to provide real power and controlled reactive power injection to detect islanding. An output is powered by the number of inverters. A number of electrical switching apparatus are structured to electrically connect the number of inverters to and electrically disconnect the number of inverters from a utility grid. A number of devices are structured to detect islanding with respect to the utility grid responsive to a number of changes of alternating current frequency or voltage of the output.
US08334604B1
An integrated engine and generator is provided and includes a stationary non-rotating shaft. An engine block is provided that is capable of rotation about the shaft. The engine block comprises a plurality of cylinders with each cylinder including a piston translating in rectilinear motion while rotating about the shaft. A stationary generator housing and stator surrounds the block and has stator windings wound into the housing. Magnets are affixed to an outer surface of the block to rotate with the block, with the magnets separated from the housing by an air gap. The stator windings are electrically configured to match pole pairs of the magnets in order to generate electrical current upon block rotation.
US08334603B2
A rail train actuated energy generating device for the use along the path of a trains includes “Y” type actuator arm members for transverse disposed, parallel to rail tracks in a module mounted to the ground, the bottom of each of the actuator arm is tied to a shaft in the module with a one way clutch gears in the module's oil bath. As the train passes the actuator arms are pushed by “V” type attachments mounted to the edge of train's undercarriage parallel to the rail, thereby moving the actuator arms randomly as train passes. This motion of the actuator arm turns the shaft of the actuator arm with the one way clutch locked turning the gear in the module, thus turning the adjacent sprocket gears with chains. This process is repeated as the gears continue to turn upon contact that turns gearbox input shaft whereby the generator.
US08334601B2
A method of manufacture of a package-on-package system includes: providing a package substrate; attaching a semiconductor die to the package substrate; forming an encapsulant around the semiconductor die to have a bottom exposed surface coplanar with a bottom surface of the package substrate and to have a top exposed surface with through openings extending therefrom through the bottom exposed surface; and creating through vias by applying solder into the through openings, the through vias coplanar with the bottom exposed surface of the encapsulant and coplanar with the top exposed surface of the encapsulant.
US08334599B2
An electronic device provides a stack of semiconductor chips. A redistribution layer of a first semiconductor chip is arranged at the bottom of the stack. The redistribution layer of the first semiconductor chip comprises external pads.
US08334595B2
A silicon contactor of which a side contacts test terminals of a semiconductor testing device and of which an other side contacts ball leads of a semiconductor device so as to be used in the semiconductor testing device, including: conductive silicon parts which are formed opposite to the ball leads and/or the test terminals and include silicon rubber and conductive powders; and an insulating silicon part which is formed by filling silicon rubber among areas of the conductive silicon parts, which do not contact the ball leads, and supports the conductive silicon parts, wherein the conductive powders of the conductive silicon parts include plate type powders. Therefore, the plate type powders are used as the conductive powders of the conductive silicon parts to improve contact characteristics between the conductive silicon parts and the semiconductor device.
US08334591B2
A semiconductor device includes: a substrate; a semiconductor chip with a surface facing down mounted on the substrate; a reinforcement material provided on the substrate in a peripheral region of a region on which the semiconductor chip is mounted; and a heat sink coupled to the semiconductor chip via a highly thermally conductive material. The heat sink is disposed on the semiconductor chip and the reinforcement material by being coupled to the reinforcement material via an adhesive material, and is provided with an uneven area on a side coupled to the reinforcement material.
US08334581B2
A semiconductor device according to embodiments of the invention includes an n−-type drift region; a p-type base region formed selectively in the surface portion of the drift region; an n+-type emitter region and a p+-type body region, both formed selectively in the surface portion of base region; and an n-type shell region between the drift region and the base region, a shell region surrounding the entire region below base region. The shell region is doped more heavily than the drift region. The shell region contains an n-type impurity at an effective impurity amount of 8.0×1011 cm −2 or smaller. A drift region exhibits a resistivity low enough to prevent the depletion layer expanding from collector region, formed on the back surface of the drift region, toward a shell region from reaching the shell region.
US08334577B2
A semiconductor device includes a semiconductor substrate formed of at least two kinds of group III elements and nitrogen, an active layer formed on the semiconductor substrate, and a nitride semiconductor layer formed on a surface of the semiconductor substrate and formed between the semiconductor substrate and the active layer. The nitride semiconductor layer is formed of the same constituent elements of the semiconductor substrate. A composition ratio of the lightest element among the group III elements of the nitride semiconductor layer is higher than a composition ratio of the corresponding element of the semiconductor substrate.
US08334576B2
MOS device formed in a semiconductor body having a first conductivity type and a surface and housing a first current-conduction region and a second current-conduction region, of a second conductivity type. The first and second current-conduction regions define between them a channel, arranged below a gate region, formed on top of the surface and electrically insulated from the channel region. A conductive region extends on top of a portion of the channel, adjacent to and insulated from the gate region only on a side thereof facing the first current-conduction region. The conductive region is biased so as to modulate the current flowing in the channel.
US08334575B2
A semiconductor device comprises a switching element. The switching element comprises a first channel terminal, a second channel terminal and a switching terminal. One of the first and second channel terminals provides a reference terminal and the switching element is arranged such that an impedance of the switching element between the first channel terminal and second channel terminal is dependant upon a voltage across the switching terminal and the reference terminal. The semiconductor device further comprises a first resistance element operably coupled between the first channel terminal and the switching terminal and a second resistance element operably coupled between the switching terminal and the second channel terminal of the semiconductor device. When a negative current is encountered at the first channel terminal, the negative current causes both a voltage drop across the switching terminal and the first channel terminal and a voltage drop across the second channel terminal and the switching terminal.
US08334561B2
A memory string comprises: a first semiconductor layer having a plurality of columnar portions extending in a perpendicular direction with respect to a substrate, and joining portions joining lower ends of the plurality of columnar portions; a charge storage layer surrounding a side surface of the first semiconductor layer; and a first conductive layer surrounding a side surface of the charge storage layer and functioning as a control electrode of memory cells. A select transistor comprises: a second semiconductor layer extending upwardly from an upper surface of the columnar portions; an insulating layer surrounding a side surface of the second semiconductor layer; a second conductive layer surrounding a side surface of the insulating layer and functioning as a control electrode of the select transistors; and a third semiconductor layer formed on an upper surface of the second semiconductor layer and including silicon germanium.
US08334555B2
A pixel area for generating an image signal corresponding to incident light is formed on a semiconductor substrate. A light-shielding layer is formed on the semiconductor substrate around the pixel area. The light-shielding layer has a slit near the pixel area and shields the incident light. A passivation film is formed in the pixel area, on the light-shielding layer, and in the slit. A coating layer is formed in the slit of the light-shielding layer and on the passivation film in the pixel area. Microlenses are formed on the coating layer in the pixel area.
US08334551B2
Each of the memory blocks includes: a first conductive layer expanding in parallel to the substrate over the first area, n layers of the first conductive layers being formed in a lamination direction and shared by the plurality of memory strings; a first semiconductor layer; and an electric charge accumulation layer. The memory strings are arranged with m columns in a second direction for each of the memory blocks. The wiring layers are arranged in the second direction, formed to extend to the vicinity of one end of the first conductive layer in the first direction from one side of the memory block, and connected via contact plugs to the first conductive layers. A relation represented by (Formula 1) is satisfied: (Formula 1) m>=n
US08334549B2
A light emitting diode and a fabricating method thereof are provided. A first-type semiconductor layer, a light emitting layer and a second-type semiconductor layer with a first surface are sequentially formed a substrate. Next, the first surface is treated during a surface treatment process to form a current-blocking region which extends from the first surface to the light emitting layer to a depth of 1000 angstroms. Afterward, a first electrode is formed above the current-blocking region of the second-type semiconductor layer, and a second electrode is formed to electrically contact to the first-type semiconductor layer. Since the current-blocking region is formed with a determined depth within the second-type semiconductor layer, the light extraction efficiency of the light emitting diode may be increased.
US08334538B2
A thin film transistor array panel includes: an insulation substrate; a gate line disposed on the insulation substrate and including a compensation pattern protruding from the gate line; a first data line and a second data line both intersecting the gate line; a first thin film transistor connected to the gate line and the first data line; a second thin film transistor connected to the gate line and the second data line; and a first pixel electrode and a second pixel electrode connected to the first thin film transistor and the second thin film transistor, respectively. The first pixel electrode and the second pixel electrode share the compensation pattern.
US08334536B2
A thin film transistor and a method of fabricating the same include: a semiconductor layer having a grain boundary disposed in a crystal growth direction and having a variation in height of a top surface of 15 nm or less formed by a thin beam directional crystallization method. Also, an organic light emitting diode (OLED) display device comprising the thin film transistor is provided and has excellent characteristics fabricated by a simple process. Also, a flat panel display device and a method of fabricating the same are provided and include: a polycrystalline silicon layer in a pixel region; and a polycrystalline silicon layer in a peripheral region formed by the thin beam directional crystallization method. Also, a semiconductor device and a method of fabricating the same include: an intrinsic region of a semiconductor layer in the photodiode region formed by the thin beam directional crystallization method.
US08334530B2
A light-emitting element includes a first electrode, an organic layer with a light-emitting layer made of organic light-emitting material, a half-transmitting/reflecting film, a resistance layer, and a second electrode, which are sequentially laminated on top of the other. The first electrode reflects light from the light-emitting layer, the second electrode transmits light from the light-emitting layer. The half-transmitting/reflecting film includes a first half-transmitting/reflecting film and a second half-transmitting/reflecting film which are laminated in this order from a side of the organic layer. Also, the half-transmitting/reflecting film on the organic layer has an average thickness of 1 nm to 6 nm.
US08334529B2
The organic electroluminescence element includes an anode metal layer above a substrate. The anode metal layer comprises an inner region and an outer region. The inner region is adjacent to and different than the outer region. An upper surface of the inner region is lower than an upper surface of the outer region. A metal oxide layer is on the inner region of the metal anode layer. A hole transport layer is above the metal oxide layer and the inner region. The hole transport layer comprises a hole-transporting organic material. An organic luminescent layer is above the hole transport layer and the inner region. A cathode layer is above the organic luminescent layer and the inner region. The cathode layer injects electrons into the organic luminescent layer. An insulating layer is above the outer region of the anode metal layer.
US08334511B2
An electron microscope including a vacuum chamber for containing a specimen to be analyzed, an optics column, including an electron source and a final probe forming lens, for focusing electrons emitted from the electron source, a specimen stage positioned in the vacuum chamber under the probe forming lens for holding the specimen, and an x-ray detector positioned within the vacuum chamber. The x-ray detector includes an x-ray sensitive solid-state sensor and a mechanical support system for supporting and positioning the detector, including the sensor, within the vacuum chamber. The entirety of the mechanical support system is contained within the vacuum chamber. Multiple detectors of different types may be supported within the vacuum chamber on the mechanical support system. The mechanical support system may also include at least one thermoelectric cooler element for thermo-electrically cooling the x-ray sensors.
US08334508B1
One embodiment relates to an apparatus for forming an electron image using electrons with a narrow range of electron energies from an electron beam with a wide range of energies. An electron beam source is configured to generate an electron beam, and condenser lenses collimate the beam into an objective lens configured to illuminate the specimen. The illuminating electrons are scattered by the specimen and form an electron beam with a range of energies that enter a magnetic prism separator. After a 90 degree deflection, the prism separator introduces an angular dispersion that disperses the incoming electron beam according to its energy. A knife-edge plate removes either the high or low energy tail from the propagating beam. An electron lens is configured to focus the electron beam into an electron mirror so that after the reflection, the other energy tail is stopped on the same knife-edge plate. The remaining nearly monochromatic beam reenters the prism separator and is deflected toward the projection system and used to form a two-dimensional electron image on an electron detector. By adjusting the strength of the prism separator, the specific electron energy used for imaging is selected from the energy distribution of the scattered electrons. Other embodiments are also disclosed.
US08334506B2
An ion trap for a mass spectrometer has a conductive central electrode with an aperture extending from a first open end to a second open end. A conductive first electrode end cap is disposed proximate to the first open end thereby forming a first intrinsic capacitance between the first end cap and the central electrode. A conductive second electrode end cap is disposed proximate to the second open end thereby forming a second intrinsic capacitance between the second end cap and the central electrode. A first circuit couples the second end cap to a reference potential. A signal source generating an AC trap signal is coupled to the central electrode. An excitation signal is impressed on the second end cap in response to a voltage division of the trap signal by the first intrinsic capacitance and the first circuit.
US08334499B2
An optical angle of arrival measurement system uses an optical element to form at least one narrow width line on a focal plane array (FPA) which is oblique with respect to the FPA's row and column axes and which traverses at least two rows or columns along its length; forming two perpendicular narrow width lines in a cross-pattern is preferred. Interpolating the position of the lines on the FPA provides coordinates that can be used to calculate the optical angle of arrival in accordance with θx=A(x)·tan−1(x/f), and θy=B(y)·tan−1(y/f), where f is the focal length of the optical element, and A(x) and B(y) are parameters that account for optical distortion and other imperfections of the system. The resolution δθ of the angle of arrival measurement can be improved to at least δθ˜(d/n)/f, where d is the FPA pixel width and n is the length in pixels of the imaged line.
US08334498B2
A solid-state imaging device includes: a substrate; a substrate voltage supply applying a first potential to the substrate during a light receiving period including first and second exposure periods different from each other and applying a second potential to the substrate during a no-light receiving period; and a plurality of pixels each including: a light receiving portion formed on a front surface side of the substrate and generating a signal charge in accordance with received light; a storage capacitor formed adjacent to the light receiving portion so that the signal charge generated in the light receiving portion is transmitted thereto and is stored and held therein when the first potential is applied to the substrate; dark current suppressing portions; an electronic shutter adjusting layer; a reading gate portion; and a vertical transmission register transmitting the signal charge read by the reading gate portion in the vertical direction.
US08334485B2
An apparatus and a method for measuring temperature in a cooking appliance, both of which utilize a circuit for reading an input from a thermal resistive device. By including a processor and an amplifier in the circuit, embodiments reduce the number of processor pins required to modify the amplified input arising from the amplifier. In one embodiment, the processor utilizes a single processor pin, through which is distributed a control output corresponding to the input and modifying the operating parameters of the amplifier.
US08334476B2
A method of hard facing a metal substrate with a two-layer abrasion and impact resistant coating by fusing a softer inner first coat of a matrix alloy of nickel-, cobalt- or iron-base alloy with carbide particles onto the substrate and fusing a harder second outer coat of a matrix alloy of nickel-, cobalt- or iron-base alloy with angular carbide particles onto the softer inner first coat. The softer inner first coat preferably has a hardness of about 30-40 Rc and the harder outer second coat preferably has a hardness of about 50-60 Rc. The carbide particles preferably are tungsten carbide particles in the size range of about 60 to 250μ and comprise about 55 to 65 wt % of each of the inner and outer coats.
US08334447B2
A wind instrument is constituted of a mouthpiece and a pipe structure including tapered/straight pipes. The pipe structure is constituted of a blow member and a branch pipe. The branch pipe is branched into a main pipe and an auxiliary pipe, which are straight pipes having openings and connected together in a branch shape. The blow member is connected to a branch point of the branch pipe. The branch pipe simulates resonance characteristic of a tapered pipe having a predetermined length, a predetermined distance between the upper base and the vertex, and a predetermined sectional area of the upper base commensurate with the sectional area of the main pipe.
US08334446B1
A novel maize variety designated PHVNA and seed, plants and plant parts thereof. Methods for producing a maize plant that comprise crossing maize variety PHVNA with another maize plant. Methods for producing a maize plant containing in its genetic material one or more traits introgressed into PHVNA through backcross conversion and/or transformation, and to the maize seed, plant and plant part produced thereby. Hybrid maize seed, plant or plant part produced by crossing the variety PHVNA or a locus conversion of PHVNA with another maize variety.
US08334444B1
A novel maize variety designated X13A459 and seed, plants and plant parts thereof, produced by crossing Pioneer Hi-Bred International, Inc. proprietary inbred maize varieties. Methods for producing a maize plant that comprises crossing hybrid maize variety X13A459 with another maize plant. Methods for producing a maize plant containing in its genetic material one or more traits introgressed into X13A459 through backcross conversion and/or transformation, and to the maize seed, plant and plant part produced thereby. This invention relates to the maize variety X13A459, the seed, the plant produced from the seed, and variants, mutants, and minor modifications of maize variety X13A459. This invention further relates to methods for producing maize varieties derived from maize variety X13A459.
US08334442B1
A novel maize variety designated PH17PK and seed, plants and plant parts thereof. Methods for producing a maize plant that comprise crossing maize variety PH17PK with another maize plant. Methods for producing a maize plant containing in its genetic material one or more traits introgressed into PH17PK through backcross conversion and/or transformation, and to the maize seed, plant and plant part produced thereby. Hybrid maize seed, plant or plant part produced by crossing the variety PH17PK or a locus conversion of PH17PK with another maize variety.
US08334441B1
A soybean cultivar designated 07046110 is disclosed. The invention relates to the seeds of soybean cultivar 07046110, to the plants of soybean cultivar 07046110, to the plant parts of soybean cultivar 07046110, and to methods for producing progeny of soybean cultivar 07046110. The invention also relates to methods for producing a soybean plant containing in its genetic material one or more transgenes and to the transgenic soybean plants and plant parts produced by those methods. The invention also relates to soybean cultivars or breeding cultivars, and plant parts derived from soybean cultivar 07046110. The invention also relates to methods for producing other soybean cultivars, lines, or plant parts derived from soybean cultivar 07046110, and to the soybean plants, varieties, and their parts derived from use of those methods. The invention further relates to hybrid soybean seeds, plants, and plant parts produced by crossing cultivar 07046110 with another soybean cultivar.
US08334437B2
A soybean cultivar designated S090248 is disclosed. The invention relates to the seeds of soybean cultivar S090248, to the plants of soybean S090248, to plant parts of soybean cultivar S090248, and to methods for producing a soybean plant produced by crossing soybean cultivar S090248 with itself or with another soybean variety. The invention also relates to methods for producing a soybean plant containing in its genetic material one or more transgenes and to the transgenic soybean plants and plant parts produced by those methods. This invention also relates to soybean cultivars, or breeding cultivars, and plant parts derived from soybean variety S090248, to methods for producing other soybean cultivars, lines or plant parts derived from soybean cultivar S090248, and to the soybean plants, varieties, and their parts derived from use of those methods. The invention further relates to hybrid soybean seeds, plants, and plant parts produced by crossing the cultivar S090248 with another soybean cultivar.
US08334425B2
An absorbent article may include one or more circuits formed on the exterior of the article that are configured to connect to a monitoring device. When connected to a monitoring device, the circuit(s) can be used to provide input data to the monitoring device. The monitoring device may provide audio, visual, and other feedback that changes based on user input data. In some embodiments, the monitoring device can further connect to one or more circuits internal to the article to sense changes in the state of the article. For example, interactive features supported by the monitoring device may relate to the wetness state of the article and/or may be used to control the type of indication(s) provided by the monitoring device when wetness (or another state) is detected. In some embodiments, the monitoring device can be used to provide interactive games for the user of the article. In some embodiments, the monitoring device can be configured to provide feedback triggered by a caregiver, such as potty training reinforcement messages.
US08334423B2
The present invention provides systems and methods for protecting a wound and managing exudate released from the wound comprising a dressing having a support cushion for surrounding the wound and periwound region; a wicking strip for application in the periwound region between the support cushion and the wound; and a reservoir for application over the wicking strip, the wicking strip configured to transfer exudate from the wound to the reservoir, where the exudate is sequestered. Various alternative embodiments are described in which the wicking strip may be custom-fit to approximate an irregular wound margin, to apply a preferred pressure gradient to the periwound regions, to periodically apply fluids to the wound bed or to apply negative pressure wound therapy. Methods of applying the dressing also are provided.
US08334410B2
A method for producing a 3-mercaptoaniline compound, which is a known intermediate for a 3-(1H-1,2,4-triazol-1-yl)phenylsulfide derivative, useful as a pesticide, and a method for producing a compound which can be used as a starting material in producing the 3-mercaptoaniline compound are disclosed. In one embodiment the nitro group and the chlorosulfonyl group of a 3-nitrobenzenesulfonyl chloride compound represented by general formula (1): are reduced in the presence of an acid catalyst to produce a compound of general formula (2): In the above general formulas (1) and (2), R represents an alkyl group or a cyclic alkyl group, and X represents a halogen atom.
US08334408B2
Compounds of formula wherein the variables are defined in the specification, are used in compositions which stimulate T cell responses.
US08334405B2
Chiral thioureas are effective catalysts for the borane reduction of prochiral ketones to optically active alcohols. A prochiral ketone may be reduced to an optically active alcohol in the presence of a substantially sub-stoichiometric amount of chiral thiourea. The asymmetric thiourea compound of the present invention may be produced according to a production method described herein.
US08334401B2
The invention relates to a process for the production of diols with a special structure which are characterized by formula (I). These diols are substances which, besides two OH groups, contain a C═C double bond so that they are suitable as monomers for the production of polymers. The process comprises hydrolyzing a corresponding cyclic precursor in aqueous medium in the presence of an acid dissolved in that medium, the hydrolysis being accompanied by the elimination of a carbonyl compound, and subsequently neutralizing the acid present in the reaction mixture with a base, the base having a pKb value above 0.18 and preferably above 3.0 and being present in heterogeneous form.
US08334400B2
There are provided a novel hydroxyl compound having proper hydroxyl values which exhibits not only excellent moisturizing ability and emollient ability when it is blended in cosmetics, but also, among others, excellent gloss-holding ability, and a cosmetic comprising said hydroxyl compound. A hydroxyl compound obtained by reacting a di- or higher-valent alcohol with a monovalent carboxylic acid to obtain an ester compound, which is then reacted with dimer acid, characterized in that the di- or higher-valent alcohol is diglycerin, and the monovalent carboxylic acid is a carboxylic acid having 5 to 10 carbon atoms, and a molar ratio among diglycerin, the carboxylic acid having 5 to 10 carbon atoms and dimer acid is 1.0:1.5 to 1.6:0.4 to 0.6.
US08334399B2
The present invention relates in general terms to a process for preparing acetone cyanohydrin, comprising as steps: A. contacting acetone and hydrocyanic acid in a reactor to give a reaction mixture, the reaction mixture being circulated, to obtain acetone cyanohydrin; B. cooling at least some of the reaction mixture by flowing it through a cooling region of a cooler, the cooler including one cooling element or at least two cooling elements; C. discharging at least a portion of the acetone cyanohydrin obtained from the reactor, the volume of the cooling region of the cooler based on the total internal volume of the cooler being greater than the volume of the cooling element or of the at least two cooling elements of the cooler, to a process for preparing an alkyl methacrylate, to a process for preparing a methacrylic acid, to an apparatus for preparing alkyl methacrylates, to a process for preparing polymers based at least partly on alkyl methacrylates, to the use of the alkyl methacrylates obtainable from the process according to the invention in chemical products, and to chemical products based on the alkyl methacrylates obtainable by the processes according to the invention.
US08334395B2
A hydrocarbon-containing gas is mixed with an oxygen gas in a gas mixer in the presence of coarse water droplet environment, e.g., a ‘rainy’ or ‘driving rainstorm’ environment in which the water droplets generally have a size greater than 200 microns SMD. The water droplets surround and contact entrained particles in either the oxygen gas stream or the hydrocarbon-containing gas stream. The water acts to suppress, prevent and quench ignition of the hydrocarbon gas in the mixer which would otherwise be caused by energetic collisions between such particles and structures within the gas mixer. In one configuration the gas mixer includes water pipes having coarse water droplet-producing nozzles at the peripheral end thereof concentrically located within oxygen supply pipes. Additionally, nozzles introduce coarse water droplets into a pipe carrying the hydrocarbon gas and forming a mixing chamber for the hydrocarbon and oxygen gases.
US08334388B2
Provided are novel salts of 2-(1-azabicyclo-[2.2.2]oct-3-yl)-2,3,3a,4,5,6-hexahydro-1H-benz[de]isoquinolin-1-one, methods of using such salts, and processes for producing such salts.
US08334387B2
The present invention relates to compounds useful for measuring aromatase activity. The invention further provides methods for measuring aromatase activity and for screening test agents which modulate aromatase activity. A kit is also provided for use in such screening methods.
US08334386B2
A process for preparing perylene pigments of the general formula (Ia) or (Ib) or mixtures thereof, by reacting perylenetetracarboxylic acids or functional derivatives thereof with aromatic diamines, where R1, R2 may be the same or different and may each independently be phenylene, naphthylene or pyridylene, where R1, R2 may each be mono- or polysubstituted by C1-C22-alkyl, C3-C22-alkenyl, C1-C22-alkoxy, hydroxyl and/or halogen, X1, X2, X3, X4, X5, X6, X7, X8 may be the same or different and may each independently be hydrogen or halogen, wherein the reaction is performed in the presence of a secondary or tertiary amine in an aqueous reaction medium.
US08334382B2
Substituted biaryl piperazinyl-pyridine analogues are provided, of the Formula: wherein variables are as described herein. Such compounds are ligands that may be used to modulate specific receptor activity in vivo or in vitro, and are particularly useful in the treatment of conditions associated with pathological receptor activation in humans, domesticated companion animals and livestock animals. Pharmaceutical compositions and methods for using such compounds to treat such disorders are provided, as are methods for using such ligands for receptor localization studies.
US08334379B2
A process for producing an imidazo[1,2-b]pyridazine compound represented by the formula (2): wherein R1, R2 and R3 are the same or different and each represents a hydrogen atom, a halogen atom, an alkyl group which may be substituted with a halogen atom or atoms, an alkenyl group which may be substituted with a halogen atom or atoms, or an alkoxy group which may be substituted with a halogen atom or atoms, which comprises reacting a 2,3-dihydropyridazine compound represented by the formula (1): wherein R1, R2 and R3 are the same meanings as defined above, with a phosphorus oxyhalide in the presence of an organic base which is in an amount of 0.5 mole or more relative to 1 mole of the 2,3-dihydropyridazine compound and 1 mole or less relative to 1 mole of the phosphorus oxyhalide.
US08334375B2
Described herein are methods of making drospirenone. Also described are intermediate compounds that may be used to synthesis drospirenone.
US08334371B2
An immunoregulator that is safe and efficiently incorporated into cells along with a production process thereof are provided. Double-stranded RNA derived from lactic acid bacteria, an immunoregulator having for an active ingredient thereof double-stranded RNA derived from lactic acid bacteria, and a process for producing double-stranded RNA derived from lactic acid bacteria are provided. Bacteria cells of a strains of lactic acid bacteria such as genus Tetragenococcus, genus Pediococcus, genus Lactobacillus, genus Streptococcus or genus Leuconostoc are able to produce double-stranded RNA having immunoregulatory action therein.
US08334370B1
Provided are nucleic acid compositions modified with intercalating aromatic compounds attached directly or indirectly through a linker arm thereto. Modifications to the nucleotides or to the oligo- or polynucleotides involve the pentosyl moieties, the abasic moieties (without a base) and the base moieties. Useful property changes are effected and can be measured or detected when such modified nucleic acids compositions have hybridized specifically to target nucleic acids.
US08334366B1
Lycotoxin-1 peptide mutant peptides which exhibit increased insecticidal activity are produced by substitution of both a proline for the lysine at amino acid position 24 and a tryptophan for the leucine at amino acid position 25 of the wild-type amino acid sequence for lycotoxin-1. Further substitution of amino acids 8, 9 or 10 of the lycotoxin-1 wild-type amino acid sequence, specifically substituting a histidine for the phenylalanine at amino acid position 8, a glutamine for the glycine at amino acid position 10, or a serine for the leucine at amino acid position 9, provides an even greater increase in insecticidal activity. In addition to changes in the lycotoxin-1 amino acid sequence, the addition of an enterokinase K recognition site, DDDK, to the N-terminus of the lycotoxin-1 peptide increases insecticidal activity further still. Isolated nucleic acid sequences encoding the mutant lycotoxin-1 peptides, expression vectors containing these sequences, microorganisms or other host cells transformed with these vectors, and recombinant methods for producing the peptides, are also disclosed.
US08334355B2
Silicone-polyether block copolymers prepared by organomodification of branched polysiloxanes having terminal and/or lateral SiH functions or linear polysiloxanes having lateral and/or terminal SiH functions by means of polyethers or polyether mixtures, characterized in that the polyethers used have a polydispersity Mw/Mn in the range from 1.0 to 1.5 and/or ratios Mn/MWIN and Mw/MWIN in the range from 0.7 to 1.3, their preparation and use and also polymer articles produced therewith.
US08334354B2
Provided are ethylene copolymers with excellent impact resistance. More specifically, provided are ethylene copolymers satisfying certain correlation between the falling dart impact strength (F) or high rate impact resistant breakage energy (E) and Vicat softening point. The ethylene copolymers with improved impact properties are applicable to film, injection, compound, sheet, roto, pipe or blow molding.
US08334353B2
Provided herein are polyfarnesenes such as farnesene homopolymers derived from a farnesene and farnesene interpolymers derived from a farnesene and at least a vinyl monomer; and the processes of making and using the polyfarnesenes. The farnesene homopolymer can be prepared by polymerizing the farnesene in the presence of a catalyst such as a Ziegler-Natta catalyst, a Kaminsky catalyst, a metallocene catalyst, an organolithium reagent or a combination thereof. In some embodiments, the farnesene is prepared from a sugar by using a microorganism.
US08334345B1
A kit for making a scenic display with a winter theme and a method for making a scenic display with a winter theme.
US08334342B2
The present invention relates to a polymer blend, comprising (a) at least one hydrophobic polymer, as component A, (b) at least one hydrophilic polymer, as component B, and (c) at least one structural unit that crosslinks component A and/or B and derives from at least one compound selected from the group consisting of aldehydes, dialdehydes, diketones, aldehyde ketones, derivatives of the abovementioned compounds, and mixtures thereof, as component C, and to processes for the production thereof and to the use thereof.
US08334336B2
Fluid activatable adhesive compositions and activating fluid(s) for activating the adhesive composition are described herein. The adhesive compositions contain at least two polymers with different hydrophilicities. The hydrophilic polymer has quick tack when exposed to a hydrophilic solvent, such as water or other aqueous solvent, while the hydrophobic polymer provides strong adhesion to a paper or polymeric substrate. The adhesive composition may contain particulate fillers which enable fast exhaustion of the activation fluid out of the adhesive when applied to a substrate, thereby allowing the hydrophobic polymers of the adhesive composition to achieve strong adhesion of the liner-free label to the paper or polymeric substrate. The particulate fillers may also function as anti-blocking agents when liner-free label media are tightly wound in a roll. The adhesive compositions described herein may be used not only on paper, cardboard, and metal, but also on glass and plastics commonly used in commercial applications.
US08334332B2
A flame-retardant thermoplastic resin composition that can have excellent color tone according to the present invention comprises a base resin comprising (A) about 50 to about 99% by weight of a rubber modified aromatic vinyl resin; and (B) about 1 to about 50% by weight of an acryl resin; and further comprising (C) about 1 to about 30 parts by weight of a bromodiphenyl ethane mixture, based on about 100 parts by weight of the base resin comprising (A) and (B); and (D) about 1 to about 10 parts by weight of an antimony oxide, based on about 100 parts by weight of the base resin comprising (A) and (B). The resin composition of the present invention can have improved physical properties and color properties as well as flame resistance.
US08334330B2
The present invention is directed to the use of carbonyl compounds to reduce the headspace emission according to VDA 277 of a polymer, wherein the carbonyl compounds are selected from the group consisting of aromatic carboxylic acid having a pKa measured in DMSO of at least 10.5, fatty acid amide and fatty acid ester.
US08334329B2
Disclosed herein are inks including an aqueous vehicle; at least one encapsulant-dispersed pigment; and at least one block copolymer binder dispersed throughout the aqueous vehicle and having Structure I and comprising a hydrophobic block (A) and a hydrophilic block (B).
US08334326B2
The invention relates to a method for adjusting the pH value and/or for neutralizing acid and/or basic compounds, in particular degradation or decomposition products, as part of the reprocessing and recycling of in particular thermoplastic materials, in the course of which the polymer particles are permanently moved and heated in a reactor, wherein at least one filler is added for neutralization purposes, specifically in a quantity which corresponds at least to the anticipated acid or alkali load.
US08334318B2
Disclosed are isosorbide derivatives of formula (I) wherein R and R′ independently represent an isosorbide moiety, a hydrogen atom, or an alkyl group having 6 to 22 carbon atoms, and A stands for hydrogen, an alkali metal, ammonium or alkylammonium, with the proviso that at least one of R and R′ is an isosorbide group. Also disclosed is the use of compounds (I) for the preparation of cleansers, detergents, personal care compositions, and cosmetic or pharmaceutical compositions.
US08334316B2
The present invention provides substituted di-, tri-, tetra- and penta-sulfide compounds and compositions, and methods of using the same for the treatment and/or prevention of a cell proliferative disorder. The present invention also provides methods for preparing trisulfide compounds and compositions.
US08334314B2
A compound represented by the following general formula (1) or a salt thereof, which has superior inhibitory activity against type 4 PLA2, and thus has prostaglandin and/or leucotriene production suppressing action [X represents a halogen atom, an alkyl group which may be substituted, or the like, Y represents hydrogen atom or an alkyl group which may be substituted, and Z represents hydrogen atom or an alkyl group which may be substituted].
US08334311B2
Indoline compounds having anti-mitotic activity, useful for the treatment of cancer and other proliferative disorders are provided.
US08334309B2
Novel heterocyclic indazole derivatives of the formula (I), in which L, Q, R, X, Y, R3, R4 and R5 have the meanings indicated in Claim 1, are SGK inhibitors and can be used for the treatment of SGK-induced diseases and complaints, such as diabetes, obesity, metabolic syndrome (dyslipidaemia), systemic and pulmonary hypertonia, cardiovascular diseases and kidney diseases, generally in fibroses and inflammatory processes of any type.
US08334301B2
Provided is a compound having a superior acid secretion suppressive action, which shows an antiulcer activity and the like.A compound represented by the formula (I) or a salt thereof: wherein ring A is a saturated or unsaturated 5-membered heterocycle containing, as a ring-constituting atom besides carbon atoms, at least one heteroatom selected from a nitrogen atom, an oxygen atom and a sulfur atom, the ring-constituting atoms X1 and X2 are the same or different and each is C or N, the ring-constituting atoms X3 and X4 are the same or different and each is C, N, O or S (provided that a pyrrole ring wherein X1 is N is excluded from ring A), and when the ring-constituting atom X3 or X4 is C or N, each ring-constituting atom optionally has substituent(s) selected from an optionally substituted alkyl, an acyl, an optionally substituted hydroxy, an optionally substituted mercapto, an optionally substituted amino, a halogen, a cyano and a nitro; R1 and R2 are each a cyclic group optionally having substituent(s); R3 and R4 are each H or alkyl, or R3 and R4 form, together with the adjacent N, an nitrogen-containing heterocycle; and Y is a spacer.
US08334299B2
The embodiments relate to derivatives of 9-alkyl-β-carboline, their production and pharmaceutical compositions containing these 9-alkyl-β-carboline derivatives. Further, the use of 9-alkyl-β-carboline derivatives and pharmaceutical compositions for the treatment and prevention of movement disorders, neurodegenerative diseases, Alzheimer's disease and Parkinson's disease is described. Additionally, these effects can be utilized for the cultivation of cells such as dopaminergic cells or stem cells which shall be engrafted for the treatment of Parkinson's disease.
US08334292B1
Disclosed herein are pyrimidinyl compounds that are contemplated to be modulators of cystic fibrosis transmembrane regulators (CFTR), and methods of making and using same. Also provided are pharmaceutical compositions and methods of treating disorders associated with cystic fibrosis transmembrane regulators, such as airway inflammation, cystic fibrosis, and the like.
US08334277B2
The present invention relates to a novel {4-[2-(dimethylamino)-1-(1-hydroxycyclohexyl)ethyl]phenoxy}phosphate or a pharmaceutically acceptable salt thereof, a production method therefor and a pharmaceutical composition for preventing and treating central nervous system disorders which contains the same as an active component. The novel {4-[2-(dimethylamino)-1-(1-hydroxycyclohexyl)ethyl]phenoxy}phosphate or a pharmaceutically acceptable salt thereof according to the present invention can beneficially be used to prevent and treat central nervous system disorders since it exhibits an equivalent biological and pharmacological activity to venlafaxine and salts thereof which are known in the field, it has very little toxicity, and, in particular, it is outstandingly soluble in water as compared with prior-art venlafaxine derivatives.
US08334272B2
The present invention provides methods for increasing the transfer of nucleic acids into cells. In particular, the present invention provides for the use of inhibitors of HDAC6, a cytoplasmic histone deacetylase present in mammalian cells by, for example, small molecules or siRNA treatment, in increasing gene transfer and/or expression in cells in vitro and in vivo for research and gene therapy applications.
US08334271B2
An agonist of the VEGF receptor is useful in the treatment of a disease associated with retarded fetal growth, such as intra-uterine growth retardation. The VEGF agonist may be a VEGF peptide or a gene construct encoding or expressing such a peptide.
US08334269B2
This invention provides compositions, methods and process of producing extracts from Xanthoceras sorbifolia. The extract comprises alkaloids, coumarins, saccharides, proteins, polysaccharides, glycosides, saponins, tannins, acid, flavonoids and others. The composition can be used for treating cancer, arthritis, rheumatism, poor circulation, arteriosclerosis, Raynaud's syndrome, angina pectoris, cardiac disorder, coronary heart disease, headache, dizziness, kidney disorder, impotence and premature ejaculation; for preventing cerebral aging; for improving memory, cerebral functions; or for curing enuresis, frequent micturition, urinary incontinence, dementia, weak intelligence and Alzheimer's disease, autism, brain trauma, Parkinson's disease or other diseases caused by cerebral dysfunctions, and treating arthritis, rheumatism, poor circulation, arteriosclerosis, Raynaud's syndrome, angina pectoris, cardiac disorder, coronary heart disease, headache, dizziness, kidney disorder. This invention provides compounds comprising at least one sugar, a triterpene, such as Sapogenin, and at least one side chains at Carbon 21 and 22, such as Angeloyl groups. The compounds of the present have various pharmaceutical and therapeutic applications.
US08334268B2
The present invention relates to novel active compound combinations consisting, firstly, of formononetin and, secondly, of known insecticidally active compounds, which active compound combinations are highly suitable for controlling unwanted animal pests, such as insects or acarids, or nematodes.
US08334265B2
This invention relates to a method for prophylactic or therapeutic treatment of photodermatoses that are caused or exacerbated by or associated with UVR exposure in a subject, particularly a human subject, which comprises the step of administering to said subject an amount of an alpha-MSH analogue effective to reduce the photosensitivity of the skin of the subject.
US08334263B2
Compositions of flupirtine for management of neuropathic or inflammatory pain optionally including one or more other analgesics including opiates, NSAIDS and other active agents in immediate and controlled release forms. Methods and systems for administration of these compositions.
US08334257B2
Provided herein are methods of enhancing in vivo efficacy of an active agent, comprising: administering to a subject an active agent that is coupled to a bioelastic polymer or elastin-like peptide, wherein the in vivo efficacy of the active agent is enhanced as compared to the same active agent when administered to the subject not coupled to (or not associated with) a bioelastic polymer or ELP.
US08334256B2
The present invention provides novel conformationally-defined macrocyclic compounds that have been demonstrated to be selective modulators of the ghrelin receptor (growth hormone secretagogue receptor, GHS-R1a and subtypes, isoforms and variants thereof). Methods of synthesizing the novel compounds are also described herein. These compounds are useful as agonists of the ghrelin receptor and as medicaments for treatment and prevention of a range of medical conditions including, but not limited to, metabolic and/or endocrine disorders, gastrointestinal disorders, cardiovascular disorders, obesity and obesity-associated disorders, central nervous system disorders, genetic disorders, hyperproliferative disorders and inflammatory disorders.
US08334247B2
A composition for restoration and treatment of PVC materials is provided and the composition comprises: at least one plant based solvent; and at least one UV protectant, and the plant based solvent comprises from about 20% to about 95% of said composition and the UV protectant is from about 1% to about 15% of said composition.
US08334242B2
Multi-functional additives which impart improved antioxidancy to lubricating oil compositions and frictional properties resulting in improved fuel economy in an internal combustion engine are disclosed. More particularly disclosed is a boron containing salt of an oil soluble hydroxylated amine and a hindered phenolic acid product prepared by: a) reacting an oil soluble hydroxylated amine of the general formula II: wherein A at each occurrence is each independently C2-C6 alkylene group; R is methyl or an alkyl or alkenyl group having C2-C24 carbon atoms; Y is hydrogen, C1-C6 alkyl group or A-OH; x is an integer of 1 or 2; and z is an integer of 0 or 1; with a boron containing compound under reactive conditions; and b) mixing the reaction product of step a) with a hindered phenolic acid.
US08334238B2
The invention relates to novel methods of detecting alterations in cell cycle regulation in a cell or a cell population and screening for agents capable of modulating cell cycle regulation through the use of multiparameter assays and a fluorescence-activated cell sorter (FACS) machine.
US08334232B2
The invention relates to a porous heterogeneous catalyst. In order to prepare a catalyst which catalyzes with a relatively high selectivity the hydrogenation of individual unsaturated bonds of polyunsaturated compounds it is proposed that the inner surface of the catalysts is coated with an ionic liquid.
US08334227B2
A waterproof, vapor-permeable and air-permeable sheet material. The sheet material includes a waterproof microporous polymer substrate and a microporous thermoplastic coating layer attached to the polymer substrate. The thermoplastic coating layer is vapor-permeable and air-permeable. The thermoplastic coating layer is at least partially interpenetrated into pores of the polymer substrate forming an interface that prevents passage of water droplets, while permitting passage of water vapor and air, when a chemical is present on the sheet material that would otherwise cause the polymer substrate to permit passage of water droplets. The interface is resistant to chemical interference with at least the waterproof property of the sheet material.
US08334221B2
This invention comprises methods of forming patterned photoresist layers over semiconductor substrates. In one implementation, a semiconductor substrate is provided. An antireflective coating is formed over the semiconductor substrate. The antireflective coating has an outer surface. The outer surface is treated with a basic fluid. A positive photoresist is applied onto the outer surface which has been treated with the basic treating fluid. The positive photoresist is patterned and developed effective to form a patterned photoresist layer having increased footing at a base region of said layer than would otherwise occur in the absence of said treating the outer surface. Other aspects and implementations are contemplated.
US08334218B2
In one aspect, non-conformal layers are formed by variations of plasma enhanced atomic layer deposition, where one or more of pulse duration, separation, RF power on-time, reactant concentration, pressure and electrode spacing are varied from true self-saturating reactions to operate in a depletion-effect mode. Deposition thus takes place close to the substrate surface but is controlled to terminate after reaching a specified distance into openings (e.g., deep DRAM trenches, pores, etc.). Reactor configurations that are suited to such modulation include showerhead, in situ plasma reactors, particularly with adjustable electrode spacing. In another aspect, alternately and sequentially contacting a substrate, the substrate including openings, with at least two different reactants, wherein an under-saturated dose of at least one of the reactants has been predetermined and the under-saturated dose is provided uniformly across the substrate surface, deposits a film that less than fully covers surfaces of the openings, leading to depletion effects in less accessible regions on the substrate surface.
US08334217B2
Embodiments of the invention relate to a method of functional materials deposition using a polymer template fabricated on a substrate. Such template forms an exposed and masked areas of the substrate material, and can be fabricated using polymer resists or Self-assembled monolayers. Deposition is performed using an applicator, which is fabricated in the shape of cylinder or cone made of soft elastomeric materials or laminated with soft elastomeric film. Functional materials, for example, metals, semiconductors, sol-gels, colloids of particles are deposited on the surface of applicator using liquid immersion, soaking, contact with wetted surfaces, vapor deposition or other techniques. Then wetted applicator is contacted the surface of the polymer template and rolled over it's surface. During this dynamic contact functional material is transferred selectively to the areas of the template. Patterning of functional material is achieved by lift-off of polymeric template after deposition. According to another embodiment, where self-assembled monolayers are used as template, selective deposition of functional materials is achieved either due to low surface energy of SAM or reactivity of terminal groups.
US08334216B2
The present invention provides silicon nanostructures and their producing method. By employing a metal-assisted chemical etching method, the bottom of the produced silicon nanostructures, connected to the silicon substrate, is porous and side etched, such that the silicon nanostructures can be easily transferred to a hetero-substrate by a physical manner.
US08334205B2
The present invention provides a method for removing polymer after etching a gate stack structure of high-K gate dielectric/metal gate. The method mainly comprises the following steps: 1): forming a gate stack structure of interface Si2/high-K gate dielectric/metal gate/poly-silicon/hard mask in sequence on a silicon substrate with device isolations formed thereon; 2): forming a resist pattern by the lithography; 3): etching the gate stack structure; and 4): immersing the resultant structure of the step 3) in an etching solution to remove the polymer, wherein the etching solution consists of HF, HCl and water, the ratio of HF by volume is 0.2˜1% and the ratio of HCl by volume is 5˜15%.
US08334192B2
A method of fabricating a gallium nitride (GaN) substrate provides a GaN thick film without causing bending and cracks which may occur in a growing process. To this end, a nitride embedding layer having a plurality of voids therein is embedded between a GaN layer and a base substrate. The method includes preparing a base substrate, growing, on the base substrate, the nitride embedding layer having a plurality of indium-rich parts at a first temperature, and growing a GaN layer on the nitride embedding layer at a second temperature higher than the first temperature so as to metallize the indium-rich part to form a plurality of voids in the nitride embedding layer.
US08334191B2
A system for treating distinct batches of workpieces to serial procedures comprises first and second multi-site structures. In each multi-site structure the sites are rotatable for alignment in turn with loading and unloading stations together constituting treatment or process stations. Workpieces of a batch are loaded onto all of the treatment sites and then simultaneously and identically treated by operation of treatment stations with which the process sites are aligned. After treatment in the first structure, workpieces of a batch are transferred from the unloading stations of the first structure to the loading stations of the second structure for further processing.
US08334186B2
A method of forming a memory device, such as a PCRAM, including selecting a chalcogenide glass backbone material for a resistance variable memory function and devices formed using such a method.
US08334183B2
A method is provided for forming a semiconductor device containing a buried threshold voltage adjustment layer. The method includes providing a substrate containing an interface layer, depositing a first high-k film on the interface layer, depositing a threshold voltage adjustment layer on the first high-k film, and depositing a second high-k film on the threshold voltage adjustment layer such that the threshold voltage adjustment layer is interposed between the first and second high-k films. The semiconductor device containing a patterned gate stack is described.
US08334179B2
A semiconductor system is described, which is made up of a highly n-doped silicon substrate and a first n-silicon epitaxial layer, which is directly contiguous to the highly n-doped silicon substrate, and having a p-doped SiGe layer, which is contiguous to a second n-doped silicon epitaxial layer and forms a heterojunction diode, which is situated above the first n-doped silicon epitaxial layer and in which the pn-junction is situated within the p-doped SiGe layer. The first n-silicon epitaxial layer has a higher doping concentration than the second n-silicon epitaxial layer. Situated between the two n-doped epitaxial layers is at least one p-doped emitter trough, which forms a buried emitter, a pn-junction both to the first n-doped silicon epitaxial layer and also to the second n-doped silicon epitaxial layer being formed, and the at least one emitter trough being completely enclosed by the two epitaxial layers.
US08334175B1
A method for manufacturing a holder of an LED package structure includes steps: providing first and second electrical portions; providing a mold including an upper die and a bottom die, the bottom die defining a receiving groove in a top surface thereof, the upper die including a core component and a wall around and spaced from the core component; putting the first and second electrical portions in the receiving groove of the bottom die, mounting the upper die on the bottom die; injecting liquid molding material into the receiving groove of the bottom die through a sprue between the wall and the core component; solidifying the liquid molding material and removing the upper die and the bottom die to obtain the holder which includes the first and second electrical portions and the solidified liquid molding material.
US08334174B2
A fabrication method of a chip scale package includes: disposing a chip on a carrier board and embedding the chip into a composite board having a hard layer and a soft layer; and removing the carrier board so as to perform a redistribution layer (RDL) process, thereby solving the conventional problems caused by directly attaching the chip on an adhesive film, such as film-softening caused by heat, encapsulant overflow, chip deviation and contamination, etc., all of which may result in poor electrical connection between the wiring layer and the chip electrode pads in the subsequent RDL process and even waste products as a result.
US08334160B2
A semiconductor photovoltaic device comprises a semiconductor substrate having a first surface and a second surface, the first surface and the second surface being opposed to each other, a plurality of trenches extending into the semiconductor substrate from the first surface, the first surface being a substantially planar surface, a dopant region in the semiconductor substrate near the first surface and the plurality of trenches, a first conductive layer over the semiconductor substrate, and a second conductive layer on the second surface of the semiconductor substrate.
US08334158B2
In manufacturing a sensor device, a sensor chip having a sensing portion on a surface thereof is mounted on one surface of a substrate, and a resin having a volatile property is arranged on the surface of the sensor chip, thereby covering the surface of the sensor chip. Then, the sensor chip and the substrate are sealed by a sealing member. After that, the sealing member is cured, and the resin is heated to be vaporized so that a void is formed between a covered portion in the surface of the sensor chip, which is covered by the sealing member, and the sealing member.
US08334155B2
A substrate including a host and a seed layer bonded to the host is provided, then a semiconductor structure including a light emitting layer disposed between an n-type region and a p-type region is grown on the seed layer. In some embodiments, a bonding layer bonds the host to the seed layer. The seed layer may be thinner than a critical thickness for relaxation of strain in the semiconductor structure, such that strain in the semiconductor structure is relieved by dislocations formed in the seed layer, or by gliding between the seed layer and the bonding layer an interface between the two layers. In some embodiments, the host may be separated from the semiconductor structure and seed layer by etching away the bonding layer.
US08334144B2
An apparatus includes a system for guiding chemiluminescence and a system for preventing a variation in dark currents. The apparatus includes a first light shielding BOX having a sample container holder and a shutter unit therein, the shutter unit including a top plate which is partly formed by a movement of a plate member, and a second light shielding BOX having a photodetector therein. While a measurement is not implemented, the shutter unit is closed to block entrance of stray light to the photodetector, and while a measurement is implemented, the plate member is moved to open the shutter unit, and the tip of the photodetector is inserted into a through hole formed in the top plate, so that the distance between the bottom of the sample container and a sensitive area of the photodetector is reduced to several millimeters or less.
US08334143B2
A method for analysis of an object dyed with fluorescent coloring agents. Separately fluorescing visible molecules or nanoparticles are periodically formed in different object parts, the laser produces the oscillation thereof which is sufficient for recording the non-overlapping images of the molecules or nanoparticles and for decoloring already recorded fluorescent molecules, wherein tens of thousands of pictures of recorded individual molecule or nanoparticle images, in the form of stains having a diameter on the order of a fluorescent light wavelength multiplied by a microscope amplification, are processed by a computer for searching the coordinates of the stain centers and building the object image according to millions of calculated stain center co-ordinates corresponding to the co-ordinates of the individual fluorescent molecules or nanoparticles. Two-dimensional and three-dimensional images are provided for proteins, nucleic acids and lipids with different coloring agents.
US08334139B1
This invention relates to several plasmids which are useful for genetically transforming plant cells. A first plasmid, such as pMON120, contains a T-DNA border, one or more marker genes, a unique cleavage site, and a region of Ti plasmid homology. A gene which is expressed in plant cells may be inserted into this plasmid to obtain a derivative plasmid, such as pMON128 which expresses neomycin phosphotransferase in plant cells. The derivative plasmid is inserted into a suitable microorganism, such as A. tumefaciens which contains a Ti plasmid. The inserted plasmids recombine with Ti plasmids to form co-integrate plasmids. Only a single crossover event is required to create the desired co-integrate plasmid. A. tumefaciens cells with co-integrate plasmids are selected and co-cultured with plant cells. The co-integrate Ti plasmids enter the plant cells and insert a segment of T-DNA which does not contain tumorigenic genes into the plant genome. The transformed plant cell(s) may be regenerated into a morphologically normal plant which will pass the inserted gene(s) to its descendants.
US08334130B2
Method for producing Yarrowia lipolytica acid-resistant recombinant lipase utilizing a culture medium without any products of animal origin or non-characterized mixtures such as tryptone, peptone or lactoserum, in addition to its uses. Recombinant strain of Yarrow lipolytica producing an excessive amount of lipase Lip2 referred to as YL-LIP2-6C and filed with the Collection Nationale de Cultures de Microorganismes (C.N.C.M.) under number I 3542, on Dec. 15 2005 and its uses.
US08334129B2
Problem to be Solved: To provide a new microorganism capable of producing a polyhydroxyalkanoate (PHA), a PHA synthase gene, an expression cassette including the gene, a vector including the expression cassette, a transformant transformed by the vector, a polypeptide having PHA synthase activity, a method for producing a PHA synthase and a method for producing a PHA.Solution: The new microorganism is capable of producing a polyhydroxyalkanoate comprising a 16S rRNA gene whose polynucleotide sequence shows 99% or more homology to a polynucleotide sequence represented by SEQ ID No: 1, having an optimum temperature of an activity temperature range for the growth and PHA production of the microorganism of at least 45° C. and being capable of growing at a pH range from 6 to 10.
US08334124B1
Disclosed herein is site-directed mutagenesis of a cloned phyA gene employed to replaced cysteine residues involved in disulfide bridge formation with another amino acid. Also disclosed herein is an isolated mutant phytase comprising an amino acid sequence having at least 96 percent sequence identity to SEQ. ID. NO: 6 and containing a double-substitution amino acid residue substitution of residue 31 and residue 40 of SEQ. ID. NO: 6, wherein said isolated mutant phytase has phytase activity.
US08334120B2
Disclosed herein are variants enzymes that are structurally classified as CE-7 enzymes and have perhydrolysis activity. Also disclosed herein is a process for producing peroxycarboxylic acids from carboxylic acid esters using the aforementioned variant enzymes as well as methods and compositions comprising the variant enzymes. Further, disinfectant formulations comprising the peroxycarboxylic acids produced by the processes described herein are provided.
US08334113B2
An organic material production system using biomass material includes: a hydrothermal decomposition apparatus that causes the biomass material and hot compressed water to countercurrently contact with each other and undergo hydrothermal decomposition, so as to separate the lignin component and the hemicellulose component from a biomass solid residue; a cellulose enzymatic saccharification device that treats, cellulose in the biomass solid residue, so as to enzymatically saccharify the cellulose to a first sugar solution containing hexose; an alcohol fermenter that produces alcohols by fermentation using the obtained first sugar solution; a sulfuric acid decomposition device that decomposes the hemicellulose component in hot water discharged from the hydrothermal decomposition apparatus, which contains the eluted lignin component and the eluted hemicellulose component, so as to decompose the hemicellulose component to a second sugar solution containing pentose; and a second alcohol fermenter that produces, using the second sugar solution containing pentose, alcohols by fermentation.
US08334105B2
The invention provides methods for identifying modulators of cardiac troponin I activity as well as methods for using N-terminally truncated forms of cTnI to monitor the function of the circulatory system in general, and the heart in particular, of an organism such as man. Additionally, the invention provides methods of treating circulatory diseases, disorders or conditions, such as cardiac diseases and conditions, by administering a therapeutically effective amount of a modulator of the N-terminal structure of cTnI, such as a molecule capable of binding to the N-terminus of full-length cTnI, a molecule that modulates cTnI phosphorylation and/or N-terminal proteolytic cleavage, or by administering N-terminally truncated cTnI or a polynucleotide encoding that protein or polypeptide.
US08334103B2
The present invention provides improved and rapid detection methods for an antigen such as a chemical compound, a peptide, a nucleic acid, or a protein released from cells or virus particles in situ. The detection time for an antigen can be dramatically reduced relative to conventional technologies. The technology can particularly be used, for example, to modify and reduce the detection time significantly in traditional ELISA, and also Western blot or Dot blot assays. The improved ELISA method is rapid, economical, reproducible, simple and automatable. Also provided are compositions and kits for using the improved ELISA methods for the rapid detection of antigens.
US08334097B2
The present invention provides methods for concentrating and pooling liquid suspensions of biological specimens containing analytes of interest in a dry state. The dried biological specimens containing analytes of interest are reconstituted and released from the matrix for subsequent analysis in concentrated form.
US08334088B2
Linear or branched functionalized polycarbosilanes having an absorbance less than 3.0 μm−1 at 193 nm and a relatively high refractive index are provided. The functionalized polycarbosilanes contain at least one pendant group that is acid labile or aqueous base soluble. Also disclosed are photoresists formulations containing the functionalized polycarbosilanes that are suitable for use in lithography, e.g., immersion lithography.
US08334085B2
A colored curable composition is provided which has good developability, has excellent color purity, can be formed into a thin film, and has a high absorption coefficient. The colored curable composition includes at least one of specific dipyrromethene metal complex compounds and tautomers thereof. Also, a colored curable composition suitable for forming a color filter which is used in a liquid crystal display device or a solid-state imaging device, and a color filter using the colored curable composition and a method of producing the same are provided.
US08334076B2
The present invention relates to an improvement in a lithium ion secondary battery including a positive electrode, a negative electrode, a separator, a non-aqueous electrolyte, and a porous film formed on at least one electrode surface. The porous film includes inorganic compound particles and polyvinylidene fluoride. The viscosity of the N-methyl-2-pyrrolidone solution dissolving 8 wt % polyvinylidene fluoride is 600 to 2400 mPa·s at 25° C., and the amount of the polyvinylidene fluoride in the porous film is 1 to 10 parts by weight per 100 parts by weight of the inorganic compound particles.
US08334068B2
An electrode terminal 42 is connected to a current collector part 12 of electrodes through a deformation restricting member 3. Between laminate films 2 and 2, a space 15 is formed above and below the current collector part 12. The deformation restricting member 3 is placed close to the inner wall peripheral portion of an outer package including sealing parts 23, thereby forming a deformation-restricting part 22 to restrict the inward deformation of the laminated films 2. In a section extending from the inside end of the deformation restricting member 3 to a battery element 1, the laminated films 2 face the space 15 to allow the deformation of the laminated films 2 in response to the change of internal pressure. At the decrease of internal pressure, the contraction of the laminated films 2 can be localized in the deformation-allowing part 21, thereby reducing the bending stress on an end portion of the sealing parts 23. Thus, the laminate type secondary battery and the battery pack thereof can be provided with the effect that the concentration of stress on the bonded part of the laminated films can be suppressed even when the expansion and contraction of the laminated films are repeated in response to the change of internal pressure of the laminated films bonded to hermetically accommodate the battery element.
US08334055B2
Light weight composites with high flexural strength comprise epoxy foam sandwiched between two layers of facing material have high strength and low weight and can be used to replace steel structures. The facing layer may be fibrous material especially glass or carbon fibers, the facing material is preferably embedded into the epoxy matrix. Alternatively they may be matching box structures or concentric metal tubes. The sandwich structures may be prepared by laying up the fiber; coating and/or impregnating the layer with epoxy resin, laying a layer of heat activatable foamable epoxy material, providing a further layer of the fibrous material optionally coated and/or impregnated with epoxy resin on the foamable material and heating to foam and cure the epoxy materials. Alternatively they may be formed by extrustion of the foamable material between the surface layers.
US08334052B2
The invention relates to a radiation-curable laminated sheet or film comprising at least one substrate layer and a top layer which comprises a radiation-curable material having a glass transition temperature below 50° C. and having a high double bond density, processes for the production thereof and the use thereof.
US08334047B2
Embodiments of the present disclosure include paper coating compositions, coated paper and/or paperboard, and methods of forming coated paper and/or paperboard with the paper coating compositions. The embodiments of the paper coating compositions contain high levels of hollow polymeric pigment relative to other pigments used in the paper coating composition (e.g., inorganic pigments). The paper coating compositions can provide the coated paper and/or paperboard with a wide variety of desirable features (e.g., high gloss, good smoothness, improved stiffness), while minimizing compaction (i.e., permanent deformation) of the underlying base paper.
US08334029B2
The invention provides materials and methods for making anisotropic solids which may be in the form of films, layers, shaped elements, and other shaped articles. The methods provide anisotropic solids without the need for rolling, rubbing, or stretching to impart orientational alignment of the molecules of the solid. The methods employ organic or organometallic compounds which are soluble orienting molecules. The solvent or solvent system must be sufficiently volatile to be removed without disruption of the molecular orientation. The soluble orienting molecules include those containing one or more hydrophilic and/or ionic groups and the solvent or solvent system can be a polar organic solvent or solvent system or an aqueous solvent or solvent system. The invention also provides novel compounds having quaterrylene, perylene and naphthalene ring systems carrying one or more hydrophilic and/or ionic groups. These novel compounds can exhibit useful absorption and fluorescence properties in solution and in the solid phase and can exhibit useful liquid crystalline properties.
US08334027B2
In the method for depositing a material in the absence of a positive column, a discharge is generated between a cathode and an anode disposed to face each other in a reaction chamber by applying a DC voltage therebetween, and introducing reaction gas into the reaction chamber, thereby depositing a material on a substrate mounted on the anode and serving as a part of the anode, wherein the deposition of the material on the substrate is performed under a state that a cathode glow and an anode glow exist in a form of thin layers coating respectively the surfaces of the cathode and the substrate, while a positive column does not exist or is so small as to be negligible.
US08334024B1
An apparatus for single-sided bilayer formation includes a first fluid chamber including a sidewall and a second fluid chamber extending through the sidewall. A barrier wall, having at least a portion defining a hydrophobicity or hydrophilicity surface property, separates the first and second fluid chambers and includes a nanopore therein across which a planar lipid bilayer (PLB) is formed. In use, an electrolyte is added to the first and second fluid chambers and a lipid/organic solvent mixture is added to the first fluid chamber to form a lipid/organic solvent layer. The electrolyte level within the first fluid chamber is adjusted such that the lipid layer is raised above the barrier wall and a PLB is formed through single-sided spontaneous formation from the first fluid chamber across the nanopore.
US08334020B2
In-mold labels comprise a printed sheet and a “cover stock” layer that covers the printed sheet and also provides adhesion of the label to the mold prior to the molding procedure. The cover stock is prepared from a blend of a major portion of polymer composition having a high melting point and a lesser amount of a polyolefin having a low melting point. The high melting point polymer composition must contain an ethylene-vinyl acetate (EVA) copolymer having a melting point of greater than 85° C. The cover stock is characterized by having a non-homogeneous morphology in which discrete “islands” of the high melting point polymer are present in a continuous “sea” of the polyolefin. The labels of this invention are especially suitable for applying labels to a rotomolded part. The cover stock melts during the rotomolding process to provide a protective cover for the label graphics.
US08334018B2
A method of preparing a green-ceramic pigment for reduction firing using copper oxide that includes mixing tin oxide (SnO2) and copper oxide (CuO); providing a fired product by applying oxidation firing to the mixture at a firing temperature of 1000 to 1300° C.; and grinding the fired product. Aspects also provide a green-ceramic pigment prepared by this method, as well as a method of manufacturing a green ceramic.
US08334015B2
A combinatorial processing chamber and method are provided. In the method a fluid volume flows over a surface of a substrate with differing portions of the fluid volume having different constituent components to concurrently expose segregated regions of the substrate to a mixture of the constituent components that differ from constituent components to which adjacent regions are exposed. Differently processed segregated regions are generated through the multiple flowings.
US08334013B2
The present disclosure provides a method for forming populations of monodisperse porous silica particles. Also provided are monodisperse populations of porous silica particles, an array of physically connected monodisperse porous silica particles and a microfluidic device for forming populations of monodisperse porous silica particles.
US08334002B2
The invention generally relates to mixtures of cinnamaldehyde (cinnamic aldehyde) and allicin (10%) in emulsifiable suspension formulations at ratios ranging from 1:1 to 20:1 for protecting plants from damage by nematodes, fungal pathogens, insects and mites. The nematicidal compositions described are easily flowable, easily mixable in water and have low volatility and exhibit no phytotoxicity. Methods of applying the compositions for agriculture use are disclosed.
US08334001B2
Provided is a composition including mucilaginous polysaccharides of aloe barbadensis, including for example aloeride and acemannan, and phospholipids, including for example, sphingosomes, ceramides and liposomes in combination with collagen, for the treatment of premature aging, overexposure to ultraviolet rays, and acne. Also provided is a process for preparing the composition.
US08333994B2
The invention provides stabilized, biocompatible gold nanoparticles that are stabilized with material from polyphenols- or flavanoids-rich plant material or reactive phytochemical components of the plant material. The gold nanoparticles of the invention can be fabricated with an environmentally friendly method for making biocompatible stabilized gold nanoparticles. In methods of the invention, an aqueous solution containing gold salts is mixed with polyphenols- or flavanoids-rich plant material. In preferred embodiment methods of making, an aqueous solution containing gold salts is provided. The aqueous solution is mixed with black tea, turmeric, curcumin or cinnamon or a similar naturally occurring polyphenols- or flavanoids-rich plant material. The gold salts react to form biocompatible gold nanoparticles that are stabilized with a coating of the polyphenols- or flavanoids-rich plant material. The black tea, turmeric, curcumin or cinnamon or similar naturally occurring polyphenols- or flavanoids-rich plant material can be a powder or can be in its root or bark form.
US08333989B2
A hydrophilic vehicle-based dual controlled-release matrix system, suitable for encapsulation in hard or soft capsules, has been developed. The matrix is in the form of a solution or a suspension, which allows for easier formulation of low dose compounds. The matrix includes two rate controlling barriers for the controlled release of one or more pharmaceutically active agents. The primary rate controlling barrier includes a hydrophilic vehicle. The primary rate controlling barrier can further comprise one or more solvents which are miscible with the hydrophilic vehicle. The secondary rate controlling barrier includes a hydrogel-forming polymeric material dissolved or dispersed in the hydrophilic vehicle. The presence of the hydrogel-forming polymeric material makes extraction of the drug from the dosage form more difficult. This feature could be beneficial in preventing or minimizing the misuse of dosage forms which contain drugs which are prone to abuse.
US08333983B2
The subject invention provides a drug delivery system comprising at least one compartment consisting of (i) a drug-loaded thermoplastic polymer core, (ii) a drug-loaded thermoplastic polymer intermediate layer and (iii) a non-medicated thermoplastic polymer skin covering the intermediate layer, wherein said intermediate layer is loaded with (a) crystals of a first pharmaceutically active compound and with (b) a second pharmaceutically active compound in dissolved form and wherein said core is loaded with said second compound in dissolved form.
US08333970B2
Methods for identifying subjects having an inflammatory disease and/or autoimmune disease that will benefit from anti-CD40 therapeutic agents that modulate CD40L-mediated CD40 signaling are provided. The methods comprise the use of biomarkers of cellular apoptosis, cell proliferation and survival, and CD40 signaling pathways to monitor ex vivo response to one or more anti-CD40 therapeutic agents of interest that modulate CD40 signaling on CD40-expressing cells. The ex vivo prognostic assays can be used alone or in conjunction with other prognostic assays to identify candidate subjects who will benefit from treatment with anti-CD40 therapeutic agents. Methods of the invention also comprise the use of these biomarkers to monitor in vivo efficacy of treatment with an anti-CD40 therapeutic agent.
US08333962B2
A controlled release multidrug formulation for improving locomotor recovery after spinal cord injury comprising: (a) a first composition comprising a first bioactive agent, encapsulated within a first polymeric particle; (b) a second composition comprising a second bioactive agent, encapsulated within a second polymeric particle, wherein the second polymeric particle is encapsulated within the first polymeric particle; and (c) a third composition comprising a third bioactive agent, encapsulated within either the first or the second polymeric particle, wherein the second composition is released subsequently to the release of the first composition, and wherein the first bioactive agent is a neurotrophic factor, the second bioactive agent is a collagen synthesis inhibitor, and the third bioactive agent is selected from the group consisting of cyclic AMP (cAMP), an adenylate cyclase activator and a Rho inhibitor.
US08333960B2
The present invention relates to administering autologous uncultured cells into a diseased intervertebral disc.
US08333956B2
The present invention relates to a gelled cosmetic emulsion comprising an oil phase, an aqueous phase and a gelling system which contains at least one non-siloxane based polyamide in a sufficient amount to gel the emulsion. The polyamide can have an tertiary amide, ester, acid, or amine terminal end group. The emulsion is stabilized with an alkylene oxide containing emulsion stabilizer. The polyamide resin is stabilized with a resin stabilizer containing an atom with a certain electronegativity. The emulsions of the present invention are substantially transparent and when colorants are added the color is especially bright and clear. The emulsions are used in lipstick and mascara products as well as other gel and stick products.
US08333955B2
The present invention provides a cosmetic composition having a gloss of at least about 85 gloss units (gu), as well as sufficient shape retention properties for forming a stick-shaped cosmetic product. Specifically, the cosmetic composition contains: (a) a high viscosity oil component; (b) a medium viscosity oil component; (c) a low viscosity oil component; and (d) an oily gelling agent comprising an ester of glycerol or polyglycerin with an aliphatic or hydroxyl aliphatic acid and a dibasic acid. A stick-shaped cosmetic product formed by the cosmetic composition of the present invention exhibits a high-shine that is not available in conventional stick-shaped cosmetic products and yet retains the high make-up coverage typically provided by conventional stick-shaped cosmetic products.
US08333945B2
A method for making a self-dispersing cerium oxide nanoparticles additive for lubricants, a lubricant composition containing the nanoparticles and a method for reducing boundary friction using the nanoparticles. The nanoparticles are made by an improved process of reacting a mixture of organo-cerium salt, fatty acid, and amine in the substantial absence of water and organic solvent at a temperature ranging from about 150° to about 250° C., the improvement comprising reacting the organo-cerium salt, fatty acid and amine in a molar ratio ranging from about 1:1:1 to about 1:2:2 in the reaction mixture to provide the reaction product comprising from about 20 to about 40% by weight of the nanoparticles in a substantially organic medium.
US08333942B1
The invention uses evaporites, e.g., from dried prehistoric lake beds to sequester carbon. The invention provides a method of sequestering carbon comprising: (a) dissolving crude naturally formed evaporites in water to form dissolved evaporite cations and anions; (b) contacting aqueous dissolved carbonate or bicarbonate, formed by dissolving carbon dioxide in water, with the dissolved evaporite cations to form precipitated carbonate mineral; and (c) sequestering the precipitated carbonate or bicarbonate mineral.
US08333941B1
Mesoporous conductive niobium and niobium-ruthenium particles and methods for forming the same are described. In some cases the particles are suitable for use as a fuel cell catalyst. The described aerosol-based synthesis method allows for single step formation and processing of the particles.
US08333940B2
A mass-exchange contact device is proposed, comprising upper and lower flat ring-shaped trays attached to a column, a sleeve having windows with bottom edges in the plane of the lower tray, a barbotage unit having orifices in its sidewalls placed on the top sleeve, a movable double-acting valve including upper and lower plates connected with a rod. The barbotage unit includes an ascending limiter of valve's movement, the sleeve's bottom includes a descending limiter. Alternatively, the barbotage unit is made as a portion of the sleeve. Embodiments comprise a number of rows of the proposed devices situated one above the other, and separated by multi-layer packing fittings. The devices can be used in catalytic distillation columns, wherein the fittings are filled with catalytic material. Alternatively, the fitting is substituted with a grating supporting a catalytic granular layer. The proposed design improves device operation, reliability, durability, reduces its weight and costs.
US08333920B2
There is provided a melt supply pipe for aluminum die casting which is strong to mechanical impact and is excellent in the melting loss resistance to a molten aluminum alloy and which has a significantly extended life. The melt supply pipe for connecting a melting furnace and a plunger sleeve of a die casting machine, includes an inner ceramic pipe and an outer steel pipe fitted to the inner pipe, wherein a Ni alloy layer is formed over the inner circumferential surface of the outer steel pipe, and TiC particles are bonded to the surface of the Ni alloy layer.
US08333919B2
A solid oxide fuel cell (SOFC) includes a cathode electrode, an anode electrode, and a solid oxide electrolyte located between the anode electrode and the cathode electrode. The cathode electrode is a porous ceramic layer infiltrated with a cathode catalyst material, and the anode electrode is a porous ceramic layer infiltrated with an anode catalyst material, and the electrolyte is a ceramic layer having a lower porosity than the anode and the cathode electrodes. A ceramic reinforcing region may be located adjacent to the riser opening in the electrolyte.
US08333917B1
Various drawable and moldable gel-based articles, methods and kits are disclosed in this patent document. In some examples, the gel-based article includes a gel-clinging article, which is configured to adhere to smooth, rigid surfaces such as glass windows upon curing, without the use of adhesives or fasteners. In some examples, the gel-based article includes a molded article, such as a bouncy ball (commonly known as a “super-ball”), a fishing lure or other small figurine-type toys. In some examples, the gel-based article includes an edible gel-based article, such as a gummy worm or gummy bear. In various examples, the gel-based article is simple to use and capable of prompt curing. Advantageously, the present gel-based articles, methods and kits allow for stimulation of one's creativity and imagination, and subsequent display, use or consumption of a created product.
US08333916B2
An apparatus for forming desired patterns on ceramic tile from a slurry comprising: a means for preparing a slurry; at least one slurry holding tank for holding at least one type of slurry; at least one pattern forming tray; at least one means for connecting said at least one tank to at least one pattern forming tray and a filter pressing unit; wherein the pattern forming unit dispenses a predetermined type, amount, colors of slurry at a predetermined order into the pattern forming tray to form a desired pattern, said slurry with desired pattern is pressed with the filter pressing unit to form ceramic tiles or slabs with a desired pattern running though its entire thickness.
US08333914B2
Dry liquids having a particle size distribution (cumulative undersize) D10% 80 to 140 μm D50%140 to 200 μm D90%190 to 340 μm are prepared by passing the liquids and a hydrophobic, pyrogenically prepared silica through a clearly defined, spatially limited shear zone in which the liquids are broken up into small droplets and are surrounded by the hydrophobic, pyrogenically prepared silica.
US08333904B2
The invention relates to antifreeze concentrates which are based on alkylene glycols or derivatives thereof or on glycerin, containing 0.05 to 10 wt. % of one or more cathoxylic acid amides and/or sulfonic acid amides in relation to the total quantity of concentrate.
US08333901B2
The invention provides a heat transfer composition comprising R-1234ze(E), R-32 and 1,1,1,2-tetrafluoroethane (R-134a).
US08333893B2
A filtration separation method for waste resin containing highly radioactive uranium powder and device thereof is mainly used for the waste resin after water treatment process in a nuclear facility. The uranium powder contained in the waste resin is highly radioactive. Thus, prior to the treatment of the waste resin, it is necessary to filter and separate the highly radioactive uranium powder to reduce the radioactivity. It is to put the uranium powder containing waste resin into an underwater holding tank and withdraw the waste resin by an underwater pump into a uranium powder filtration box. Then the uranium powder filtration box is lifted by a hoist to move to an underwater ultrasonic cleaner. High-pressure water flushing is applied and followed by underwater ultrasonic cleaning. Then the cleaning water (containing precipitated uranium powder) from the ultrasonic cleaner is drained to uranium powder collection device. If the radioactivity of the waste resin is still high, high-pressure cleaning by water nozzle flushing and ultrasonic cleaning are applied several times until the radioactivity of the waste resin is lowered to the treatment standard and converted to low-radioactivity waste for further treatment.
US08333886B2
A water treatment unit includes a mixing chamber surrounding the upper end of a riser containing an impeller. Water can be moved from a body of water up through the riser, and out through laterally directed openings into the chamber adjacent to an air inlet. The water moving out the laterally directed openings of the stand pipe, mixes with air drawn in through the air inlet to oxygenate the water, and the oxygenated water exits the chamber into the body of water through one or more water outlets in the lower portion of the chamber due to the head developed by the inflow of water into the chamber. The outward flow of water from the chamber can cause a toroidal or other desired flow of water within the body of water surrounding the water treatment apparatus.
US08333882B2
The method of polishing a work is capable of reducing a polishing cost, polishing a surface of the work with high polishing accuracy and easily disposing used polishing liquid and used washing liquid. The method comprises the steps of: pressing the work onto a polishing member; feeding polishing liquid; and relatively moving the work with respect to the polishing member. Electrolytic reduced water produced by electrolyzing an electrolyte solution is used as the polishing liquid.
US08333875B2
A current detection resistance in a sensor control device is connected to a sensor element. The current flowing in the sensor element is detected through the current detection resistance. The current detection resistance is connected to an inverting amplification circuit for outputting an air/fuel output voltage to be transferred to a microcomputer. An offset setting circuit is connected to one input terminal of an operational amplifier in the inverting amplification circuit. The offset setting circuit is comprised of a switching element, a resistance connected in series to the switching element, and two dividing voltage resistances whose common node is connected to the resistance. The offset setting circuit generates and gives an offset to the A/F output voltage. The switching element is turned ON and OFF based on an offset switching signal transferred from the microcomputer.
US08333873B2
A method for killing microorganisms in water, by passing an aqueous feed solution comprising of water containing some form of halide salt into a non-membrane electrolysis cell comprising an anode and a cathode, adjacent to the anode, while flowing electrical current between the anode and the cathode to electrolyze the aqueous feed solution and convert the halide salt to anti-microbial mixed oxidants.
US08333856B2
A method for manufacturing a tyre includes: assembling an unvulcanized tyre, the tyre including a crown, a first sidewall and a first bead, a second sidewall and a second bead, and a carcass reinforcement, each bead including a seat; and vulcanizing the unvulcanized tyre in a mould having an asymmetric configuration in order to obtain a vulcanized tyre, wherein the mould is such that, when the tyre is placed in the mould, in any meridian section, the seat of the first bead has an angle β1 with a rotation axis A and the seat of the second bead has an angle β2 with the rotation axis A, such that β1−β23, with the angles β1 and β2 being expressed in degrees, with the angles β1 and β2 being defined, for each bead, relative to an axis Ox and Ox′ parallel to the rotation axis A oriented positively towards outside of the tyre, and with the angles β1 and β2 being positive when extending radially outwards.
US08333850B2
A Zr-based amorphous alloy and a method of preparing the same are provided. The Zr-based amorphous alloy is represented by the general formula of (ZraM1-a)100-xOx, in which a is an atomic fraction of Zr, and x is an atomic percent of 0, in which: 0.3≦a≦0.9, and 0.02≦x≦0.6; and M represents at least three elements selected from the group consisting of transition metals other than Zr, Group IIA metals, and Group IIIA metals.
US08333847B2
A chemical conversion treatment liquid which can stably form a phosphate-type chemical conversion film on a steel material for a joint portion of an oil well steel pipe containing 0.5-13% Cr is developed.Using a chemical conversion treatment liquid to which a prescribed amount of potassium is added, a chemical conversion film containing a prescribed amount of potassium compounds and having a prescribed thickness can be formed on the threaded surface of a joint portion of an oil well steel pipe.
US08333834B2
An object of the present invention is to provide a high-purity aqueous copper sulfonate solution and a simplified method of producing this solution.The aqueous copper sulfonate solution of the present invention is characterized in that the copper concentration therein is at least 90 g/L, the content of metal impurities is less than 10 mg/L as metal for each metal impurity, the content of chlorine is less than 10 mg/L, and the sulfonic acid is a sulfonic acid represented by the following general formula R—(SO3H)n (in the formula, R represents a lower alkyl group, lower alkylidene group, lower alkylene group, or hydroxyalkyl group and n represents 1 or 2).
US08333830B2
A composite of one or more repeat sequence protein polymers and either one or more metal oxides or one or more plasticizers which alter the material properties of the repeat sequence protein polymers, including the morphology of the polymers as well as the elastic modulus and tensile strength. The morphology of the composite is aligned, generally parallel nanofibers.
US08333826B2
A filter media including a scrim, a polytetrafluoroethylene (PTFE) media substrate upon the scrim, and a layer of expanded polytetrafluoroethylene (ePTFE) membrane adhered to the PTFE media substrate on the scrim. The filter media is pleatable and has air permeability of approximately 3-10 cubic feet/min at a 0.5 inch H2O pressure drop and an original filtration efficiency greater than 99.0% when tested in an unused, unpleated condition with a 0.3 micron challenge aerosol at a flow rate of 10.5 feet/min and when tested after a cleanable dust performance test according to ASTM D6830.
US08333813B2
Embodiments disclosed herein provide hydrocarbon additives and methods of making and using the same. The additives are suitable for use in conjunction with gasifiers, furnaces, or other high-temperature vessels. The additives may be part of an input stream to a reaction vessel of a hydrocarbon gasifier. The additives may include materials that at least partially reduce the infiltration of slag into the refractory material.
US08333812B2
A non-combustible, synthetic fire-log is disclosed comprising a composition formed to approximate the shape of a combustible object, wherein said composition comprises a substantially non-combustible matrix and an effective amount of hollow spheres. In one embodiment, the effective amount of hollow spheres ranges from approximately 3 to 85 percent of the total composition by weight. The composition enhances the aesthetic quality of the synthetic fire-log when exposed to heat and also decreases the carbon monoxide emissions of synthetic fire-log systems.
US08333811B2
This invention relates to a method for refining vegetable oils, in particular cottonseed oil or a possible mixture of it with others, as substitute of diesel fuel remarkable in that a sequence of treatment steps to be performed on crude vegetable oil, including: a) a pre-treatment thereof consisting of the removal of oil insoluble impurities from the crude oil, b) removal of oil soluble impurities therefrom, c) a free acid neutralization thereof, and d) a drying, bleaching and filtration thereof. This invention also relates to an Additive of organic basis, containing ether, ketone, toluene, hexane, turpentine, alcohols in specific concentrations.
US08333810B1
A supercapacitor system, including (i) first and second, spaced apart planar collectors, (ii) first and second arrays of multi-wall carbon nanotube (MWCNT) towers or single wall carbon nanotube (SWCNT) towers, serving as electrodes, that extend between the first and second collectors where the nanotube towers are grown directly on the collector surfaces without deposition of a catalyst and without deposition of a binder material on the collector surfaces, and (iii) a porous separator module having a transverse area that is substantially the same as the transverse area of at least one electrode, where (iv) at least one nanotube tower is functionalized to permit or encourage the tower to behave as a hydrophilic structure, with increased surface wettability.
US08333805B2
The present invention relates to a femoral component for use in connection with knee anthroplasty. The implant includes a support having a contoured inner bone engaging surface, and a shell affixed to the support. The shell has an outer surface spaced so as to provide an articulation surface for engaging the tibia that substantially replicates the shape of a femoral condyle, and an inner surface for receiving an outer surface of the support. The support bone engaging surface is structured to mate with a prepared surface of the distal femur and the support spaces the shell outer surface at a predetermined distance from the prepared surface.
US08333801B2
A method of forming a stent includes the steps of forming an elongated composite member or plurality of elongated composite members into a stent pattern having struts interconnected by crowns, the composite member including an outer member and a core member. Openings are formed through the outer member of the composite member. The composite member is processed to remove the core member from at least a plurality of the struts of the stent without adversely affecting the outer member and such that the core member is not removed from at least a plurality of the crowns of the stent, thereby leaving the outer member with a lumen in at least a plurality of the struts and the outer member with the core member in at least a plurality of the crowns. The lumens may then be filled with a biologically or pharmacologically active substance.
US08333799B2
Preferred embodiments of a stent with a high degree of flexibility are shown and described. The stent can include a continuous helical winding having interconnected struts joined at vertices, and having bridges connecting sections of the helical winding to each other. An annular ring can be provided at one or both ends of the helical winding, and the annular ring can have five extensions extending to connect to the helical winding. One of the extensions can connect to a bridge and another extension can connect to a vertex. The struts at the ends of the helical winding can have strut lengths that differ from the strut lengths of the struts in a central portion of the winding between the ends of the winding.
US08333796B2
Embolic coil implant systems and methods whereby coils are mechanically detachable are disclosed. The coils include a retention element that may be releasably retained within the distal end of an implant tool. The implant tool may include a fulcrum configured to engage a first filament and prevent the release of the coil when the first filament is engaged. Alternatively, an urging means and aperture may be disposed within the sidewall of the implant tool, and a first filament may, in conjunction with the aperture and sidewall, releasably retain the coil until the first filament is withdrawn. The implant tool may also include an alignment member for aligning the first filament.
US08333791B2
Embodiments of the invention comprise a medical implant that delivers a therapeutic substance. In some embodiments, a component that carries a therapeutic substance is a tie secured to all or a portion of a surgical construct, surgical screw, pedicle screw, spinal rod cross-link, other element or device, or an anatomical structure.
US08333782B2
A lancing device comprises a main housing, a movable housing, and a damping ring. The main housing forming an inner aperture that encloses a portion of a lancet assembly. The lancet assembly has a lancet body, a lancet-plunger housing, and a lance. The lancet assembly is adapted to move between a resting position, a cocking position, and a puncture position. The movable housing is adjacent to the main housing. The moveable housing is adapted to move from a resting position to a cocking position. The moveable housing is adapted to connect to the lancet assembly. The damping ring is adapted to engage the lancet assembly as the lancet assembly moves from the puncture position back towards the resting position to reduce movement of the lancet assembly back towards the puncture position.
US08333772B2
A method of positioning a femoral cutting guide on a distal end of a femur establishes at least a first reference plane to perform a distal femoral planar cut. The method includes inserting a mounting member into an intramedullary canal of the femur and coupling a bridge member to the mounting member. The method also includes placing a cutting guide member over a medial anterior portion of the distal femur. The cutting guide member has a first channel that establishes the first reference plane. The bridge member has a bridge channel. A wall of the bridge channel is inserted into the first channel of the cutting guide member. A mounting mechanism generates resistance between the bridge member and the cutting guide member. The resistance is overcome by positioning the cutting guide member relative to the femur.
US08333771B2
The present invention describes a system suitable for guiding a biocompatible device to a target area within the body (in vivo) and method of using the same. The system includes a targeting member being constructed of, or having a steering material, which can be coupled to a biocompatible device. The system further includes one or more devices which are used to maneuver the targeting member into position prior to attachment of the biocompatible device. The biocompatible device is traversed into position through the passageway created by the targeting member and secured to one or more anchoring members.
US08333768B2
One embodiment of a method and apparatus for the correction of pectus excavatum, having two arch shaped braces (22), made of a rigid durable material, and connected by a flexible belt (42 and 34), each half having the ability of applying positive pressure (26) to the flared ribs caused by the condition. Positive pressure is to be applied to the ribs while a suction cup or other device simultaneously pulls or pushes the sternum to a natural position. Other embodiments are described and shown.
US08333767B2
A cerclage device includes a base member, a cerclage member, and a drive member. The base member has a length sufficient to allow for manual holding by a user, an interior space extending from a distal end toward a proximal end, and a slot extending from the distal end toward the proximal end. The cerclage member has a long side with a proximal end and a distal end and a curvature in one direction about its long side at least at the distal end. The cerclage member allows for attaching a suture and fits within and is straightened by the base member within the interior space when in a retracted position. When the drive member is attached to the cerclage member movement of the engagement portion in the slot pushes and pulls the cerclage member to/from the straightened position from/to the extended curved position.
US08333761B2
An electrosurgical system includes an electrosurgical instrument and an electrosurgical generator, the instrument having a longitudinal axis and including at least first, second and third electrodes. The electrodes are spaced from each other by one or more insulating members therebetween, the spacing between the first and third electrodes being greater than that between the first and second electrodes. The electrosurgical generator includes a source of radio frequency energy capable of producing either a coagulating RF waveform or a cutting RF waveform and has first second and third output connections connected to the first, second and third electrodes respectively of the electrosurgical instrument. The generator further includes a switching means, and a controller, the controller being such that when a cutting RF waveform is selected, the switching means directs the cutting RF waveform between the first and second output connections and hence the first and second electrodes. When a coagulating RF waveform is selected, the switching means directs the coagulating RF waveform between the first and third output connections and hence the first and third electrodes.
US08333759B2
A method for controlling energy applied to tissue as a function of at least one detected tissue property includes the initial step of applying energy to tissue. The method also includes detecting a phase transition of the tissue based on a detected rate of change in the at least one detected tissue property. The method also includes adjusting the energy applied to tissue based on the detected rate of change to control the detected phase transition.
US08333753B2
A drain for use in medical applications may include an elongated conduit configured to be implanted in a body cavity, wherein the conduit has a proximal end and a distal end. The conduit may include at least one channel configured to drain fluid from the body cavity and at least one lumen extending from the proximal end to the distal end of the conduit. The lumen may be at least partially surrounded by the at least one channel and may be separated from the at least one channel by a wall. At least one hole in the wall may be configured to provide fluid communication between the lumen and the at least one channel.
US08333751B2
A medical container (1) includes a bag-like container body (10) made up of two flexible sheets (12a, 12b). At least one of a pair of long-side sealed areas (11La, 11Lb) formed by the two sheets being bonded together is provided with a sealed protruding portion (20a, 21a, 20b, 21b) protruding toward the other long-side sealed area such that the spacing between the pair of long-side sealed areas is locally narrowed. A crease (30a, 31a, 30b, 31b) passing through the sealed protruding portion is formed in the sheets when a liquid substance has been injected into the container body in a volume greater than or equal to 10% of a defined volume of the container body and the medical container is hung. Accordingly, it is possible to know the exact amount of a liquid substance in the container by using a scale provided on the sheets constituting the container even if a crease is formed in the sheets due to the liquid substance being in the container.
US08333739B2
A medication dispensing device with a housing and a member wherein the member is moveable in a distal direction is useful in delivering medication to a patient. A fluid container can be used with the device and often has a moveable piston at one end and an outlet at the other. The member receives a force from a user and drives the piston in the distal direction to expel medication. A intermediate system is disposed between the member and the piston including a gear set that has a pinion in meshed engagement with a rack. The system allows the member to move a greater distance than the piston moves thereby increasing the force on the piston.
US08333734B2
A peripheral nerve block needle for facilitating a peripheral nerve block procedure. A needle has several fenestrations along its length to allow an efflux of local anesthetic into a particular fascial compartment to treat a corresponding peripheral nerve despite only roughly approximating the location of such fascial compartment. A needle hub may be attached to the needle so that a backflow of fluid may be observed. A stylet is slidably disposed within the needle and needle hub such that selectively withdrawing the stylet from the apparatus enables a backflow of fluid into the needle hub, from which proper localization of the apparatus may be verified prior to administering local anesthetic. In this manner, local anesthetic may be effectively and efficiently administered to a peripheral nerve with reduced risk of injury to a patient.
US08333732B2
An exemplary basket catheter includes an outer tubing housing an inner fluid delivery tubing having at least one fluid delivery port. A plurality of splines are each connected at a proximal end of the splines to the outer tubing and at a distal end of the splines to the inner fluid delivery tubing. The inner fluid delivery tubing is operable to be moved in a first direction to expand the splines; and in a second direction to collapse the splines. A porous membrane is provided over at least a portion of the inner fluid delivery tubing. A seal is provided at a proximal end of the porous membrane between the porous membrane and the outer tubing and between the porous membrane and the inner fluid delivery tubing, the seal configured for irrigating between the plurality of splines of the basket catheter while preventing fluid ingress into the outer tubing.
US08333729B2
According to some embodiments, an apparatus may deliver a medication that comprises a multi-dose syringe, a multi-dose medication storage unit coupled to the multi-dose syringe, and a trigger mechanism. The multi-dose medication storage is to comprise a plurality of pre-loaded doses of a medication where the medication is in powder form. Moreover, the trigger mechanism is to facilitate delivery of one or more of the plurality of doses of the medication from the multi-dose medication storage unit.
US08333725B2
The invention relates to a device for separating a bodily fluid, in particular blood platelet concentrate, into fractions under centrifugal force. The device comprises a flexible container system which comprises at least a first container for the fluid to be separated and a second container for a separated fraction, wherein the containers are mutually connected using a connecting conduit for a fluid, wherein a widened portion is arranged in the connecting conduit between the first and second container, wherein during use a detectable separating layer is created in the widened portion. The invention also relates to a flexible container system intended for the device, a method for separating blood platelet concentrate into fractions under centrifugal force, and a blood platelet concentrate with low leukocyte content.
US08333718B2
A sensor for sensing bioacoustic energy includes a housing comprising an interfacing portion configured to establish coupling with a body part during use. The sensor includes a transducer element coupled to the interfacing portion of the housing and configured to sense sounds produced by matter of biological origin. One or more conductors are coupled to the transducer element. A mass element is compliantly coupled to a surface of the transducer element. Intervening material is disposed between the transducer element surface and the mass element, and allows for differential motion between the transducer element surface and the mass element during excitation of the transducer element.
US08333714B2
Method and apparatus for providing an integrated analyte sensor and data processing unit assembly is provided.
US08333710B2
A tissue penetration device and method of using same. The tissue penetration device may optionally include sampling and analyzing functions, which may be integrated. An embodiment provides control of a lancet used for sampling blood. Electric field coils or solenoids may drive the lancet using electromagnetic force. Advancement and retraction of a lancet may be controlled by a feedback loop monitoring the position and velocity of the lancet embodiments of the lancet driver can be configured to follow a predetermined tissue lancing profile. Embodiments of the invention include a lancet and method for using a lancet to maintain the patency of the wound tract once the lancet has cut into the skin.
US08333708B2
Described are a system and a method for monitoring breathing of a patient. The system may include a sensor measuring data corresponding to the patient's breathing patterns and a processing arrangement determining whether the breathing patterns are indicative of a troubled wakefulness state.
US08333702B2
An ultrasonic probe comprises a transducer part, a heat-receiving part, a refrigeration unit and a cable unit. The cable unit includes a signal line, a refrigerant supply tube, a refrigerant ejection tube and a heat insulator. The heat-receiving part absorbs heat generated from the transducer part. The refrigerant supply tube supplies a refrigerant from the refrigeration unit to the heat-receiving part. The refrigerant ejection tube sends the refrigerant for ejecting heat of the heat-receiving part to the refrigeration unit. The heat insulator is arranged around the refrigerant supply tube. A set of the refrigerant supply tube, the refrigerant ejection tube and the heat insulator is arranged at a center of the cable unit substantially while the signal line is arranged around at least one of the refrigerant supply tube, the refrigerant ejection tube and the heat insulator.
US08333697B2
The invention provides kits developed to analyze ex vivo, a sample retrieved from the area of the pathological condition for diagnosis and monitoring the pain generator(s) of axial pain with or without radiculopathy and methods for screening therapeutic compounds potentially useful for treating axial pain with or without radiculopathy. Alternatively, degenerated discs can be monitored and treated before occurrence of a pathological pain condition. Pain markers and markers of degenerating disc include markers of neuronal, vascular, immune and matrix elements.
US08333689B2
A medical operation device is attachable to an insertion portion of a medical instrument for observation. The medical operation device includes: rotary cylinder rotatably disposed in device main body that has insertion portion inserting hole through which insertion portion is inserted; insertion portion pressing member that presses insertion portion inside rotary cylinder; insertion portion mounting section cover provided inside insertion portion inserting hole that prevents insertion portion directly touching inner face of insertion portion inserting hole, vicinity of opening of insertion portion inserting hole, and insertion portion pressing member; switching instruction portion that switches whether insertion portion pressing member presses insertion portion to specify state where rotary cylinder and insertion portion are united and state where insertion portion moves forward/rearward with respect to rotary cylinder; and rotation mechanism that, when rotary cylinder and insertion portion are united, rotates rotary cylinder to rotate insertion portion unified with rotary cylinder around insertion portion axis.
US08333671B1
A reciprocating ball sports trainer for improving an individual's ability to properly strike a ball. A ball is affixed to the top of flexible supports, allowing the ball to move in an arc once it is struck. A timing light is provided for illuminating a lens to indicate the proper time for the user to strike the ball. Various sensors are included for determining whether the ball was correctly struck. A number of parameters relating to the manner in which the ball was struck are sensed and recorded.
US08333668B2
A hollow golf club is provided having an outer shell and an inner frame. The outer shell comprises one or more lightweight members. The inner frame fits within a smaller envelope and sits on the sole of the club head. One or more weights are located either on or within the inner frame to optimize the moment of inertia of the club head about both the vertical axis running through the center of gravity or geometric center of the club head, referred to as the “y-axis,” and the axis running through the center of the shaft of the golf club, referred to as the “hosel axis.” The ratio of moment of inertia of the club head about the y-axis to moment of inertia of the club head about the hosel axis is preferably 0.55. More preferably, this ratio is 0.75.
US08333666B2
An inner drive for a magnetic drive pump includes a magnet supported on a yoke. The inner drive is driven about an axis to pump a corrosive process fluid. The magnet and yoke are fully encapsulated during the molding process to completely surround the magnet and yoke in a protective plastic shell. A sleeve is arranged radially outwardly of the magnet to provide further protection. Backing rings are arranged on either side of the magnet. A bonding material joins the plastic shell to the backing rings and sleeve to prevent a space from forming beneath the plastic shell that would become filled with the process fluid once it has permeated the plastic shell. A protective coating is arranged on at least a portion of the magnet to further insulate the magnet from the process fluid.
US08333653B2
A transaction card facilitates typical consumer transactions as well as transactions related to lottery offerings and can incorporate a reader terminal to associate lottery tickets with the transaction instrument. New gaming opportunities tied to the instrument are also facilitated, including a personalized guaranteed prize structure, a personalized and/or localized jackpot and an opportunity for winning additional prizes when making purchases using the instrument. The system according to one embodiment of the present invention provides at least a lottery data processing system for communicating a first funding amount to be applied to a multi-purpose transaction card based on winnings from a lottery offering, and a reader terminal for reading at least a portion of the transaction card, reading indicia on one or more gaming tickets, and associating the one or more gaming tickets with the transaction card. In one embodiment of the present invention, a custodian not associated with the winner or cardholder can derive non-transaction related earnings on the winnings without providing a fee to the cardholder.
US08333652B2
A technique is disclosed for facilitating play of a casino table game at a casino gaming table system which includes a casino gaming table and at least one handheld device. At least a portion of operations or activities relating to the casino game may be performed at a first handheld device. Examples of such operations may include electronically dealing a first card to a first player via the first handheld device, displaying a representation of the first card to the first player via a display at the first handheld device, etc. In at least one embodiment, an association between a selected handheld device and the first player station may be created and used for subsequent game play activities to enable the selected handheld device to be operable to display game play data relating to game play activities associated with the first player station. In some embodiments, at least a portion of the features of a selected handheld device may be enabled/disabled based on the detection of one or more conditions or events. According to specific embodiments, the handheld device may be adapted to provide various functionality for facilitating game play at a casino gaming table. Examples of such functionality may include, for example, allowing a player to select cards for discard/holding; allowing a player to perform wagering activities; retrieving and/or displaying player tracking data; retrieving and/or displaying player account data; displaying game play assistance information; displaying casino layout information; displaying promotional information; etc.
US08333649B2
A gaming device including a plurality of reels having a plurality of symbols including at least one replicator symbol. The replicator symbol includes at least two of the same symbols in a single symbol position on the reels. The replicator symbol may include any suitable number of the same symbols. The replicator symbol thereby increases the likelihood that a player will obtain a winning symbol combination on the reels and also an award in a game. In one embodiment, a winning symbol combination includes at least one replicator symbol and at least one other symbol at a plurality of symbol positions on a payline associated with the reels. In another embodiment, the winning symbol combination at least one replicator symbol and at least one other symbol at a plurality of symbol position in at least one symbol position on a plurality of paylines associated with the reels.
